Channel One News is a youth marketing company whose main purpose is to get advertising to a captive audience of impressionable schoolchildren. The company loans a school TV equipment in exchange for the school’s contractual pledge to show students a daily, 12-minute, hyper-commercial, TV program called Channel One News. Students lose one hour a week of schools time, which equates to one lost week of instructional time (32 hours) per year. No educational organization endorses the use of Channel One News.
Channel One has fallen on very hard times. Once they claimed over 8 million students were under contract. Since 1997 they have continued to lose schools and now they claim “nearly five million” students and the true figure is probably lower.
In May 2014, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired Channel One from ZelnickMedia the makers of the ultra-violent Grand Thief Auto video game series. Houghton Mifflin did not disclose the purchase price.
At the end of 2014 most of Channel One’s full-paying advertisers have abandoned the program.
From Jim Metrock: This poll over three days, shows only 11 visitors cared to vote. It seems that 7 visitors (probably Channel One employees) nationwide, are excited about the notorious kiddie marketers at Channel One News returning on August 21. The efforts of parents and educators to eliminate this controversial, highly commercialized waste of...
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Watch for yourself: channel-one-promo-video-rockridge-jr-high-dec-5-2016 Students: We’re Mrs. Benac’s sixth-grade class from Rockridge Junior High in Taylor Ridge, Illinois, and we’re flying into this Channel One! Azia: Thanks to Rockridge Junior High for takeoff on this Monday.
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From Jim Metrock: Channel One News has a long history of normalizing teen alcohol use. I’m posting this 2011 article to remind parents and educators why Channel One News is so controversial. From Channel One’s official scripts for April 7 and 8, 2011 (Our highlights in RED and our comments in BLUE): On April 7, 2011,...
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From Jim Metrock: Why would the kiddie marketers at Channel One News advertise Hostess Twinkies to schoolchildren when they knew there was a childhood obesity crisis in the country? The reason is simple: Channel One News was created by advertising and marketing people to sell whatever they could get away with to a captive...
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From Jim Metrock: Educators don’t like Channel One News because it often makes a circus of their classrooms. The kiddie marketers at Channel One have to bring crazy, goofy images and loud sounds into schools in order to get students to WATCH THE COMMERCIALS. Unless students turn their eyes to Channel One’s advertising, they...
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From Jim Metrock: Channel One News doesn’t spend most of its time covering hard news. It can’t. It would be too expensive, and besides, the show is always a day late because it is, even in 2017, a taped show. Channel One could produce a live show that would be more current for...
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From Jim Metrock: Channel One’s parent company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported today that it lost $46.9 million in its second quarter. How much of that is due to Channel One is unknown. Houghton Mifflin rarely mentions Channel One by name anymore. Houghton Mifflin lost $8 million in the Second Quarter of 2015. Houghton...
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Channel One promo filmed by students March 2016 Hedgesville MS From Jim Metrock: Hedgesville Middle School evidently is continuing to show movie commercials and other ads for products in its classrooms. Showing Channel One News according to the contract takes up one hour a week of taxpayer-funded school time. Let’s hope Berkeley...
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From Jim Metrock: It’s 2017 and there is a good reason that Channel One News steadfastly refuses to publish the list of advertisers on its controversial, classroom TV show. No parent, no educator, no school administrator, no citizen is allowed to know what is being advertised to the students in their community. That...
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