Obligation, Inc. P. O. Box 26270 Birmingham, AL 25260 www.obligation.org For Release: January 30, 2006 Contact: Jim Metrock 205.822.0080 EDITORIAL MEMORANDUM: Did Governor Bob Riley Reverse Himself On Channel One To Benefit Adviser’s Client? Ralph Reed’s Secret Funding Of Dax Swatek’s Sham “Coalition.” In August 2003, Alabama Governor Bob Riley was on the verge of sending...
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Does your school still have Channel One News?
Learn how to unplug
Houghton Mifflin/Channel One News
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.
Gov. Bob Riley sells out Alabama schoolchildren with help from Ralph Reed and Dax Swatek
Why Did Judy Harris Approve This Ad?
Gameboy commercial on Channel One News (taken from a middle school broadcast) From Jim Metrock: Pediatricians hate this type of ad. I know. I have shown similar Channel One ads to two committees of the American Academy of Pediatrics. One was the Public Education committee and the other the Council on School Health....
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Cingular Pitches $150 Cell Phone To Preteens
Cingular’s commercial on Channel One News. (taken from a middle school broadcast) During December 2005, Cingular Wireless ran their normal ads for wireless cell phone service and for their pay-as-you-go GO phones. In addition, they ran commercial in middle schools, as well as high schools, for the ROKR cell phone that utilizes Apple’s...
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One sandwich = 1,060 calories and 50 grams of fat
Why advertise this in classroom? Subway is one of the remaining advertisers on Channel One News. They also appear to be one of the more mean-spirited advertisers – or, at the very least, a very mischievous one. Subway sponsors segments on Channel One called “One Step To A Better Me.” These are short feature stories that promote better nutrition...
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Channel One News’s Angel Of Darkness
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff PRIMEDIA EMPLOYED LOBBYIST ABRAMOFF FOR CHANNEL ONE Controversial In-School Network Faced Several Legislative Threats January 11, 2006 By Ira Teinowitz WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) — Add Primedia to the list of media clients caught up in the Jack Abramoff lobbying disclosures. Mr. Abramoff’s guilty plea has sparked expectations that it would affect members of Congress, and...
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Our Class Stopped What We Were Doing For This?
On Friday, January 6, Channel One turned over a very large portion of their “news” segment to help their advertiser, the U.S. Army. The Army sponsors a high school all-star game every year. Incredibly, Channel One made this game their most significant “news” story of the day. Time yourself as you read these words out loud and then...
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“Casino Jack” Abramoff
Channel One’s disgraced lobbyist pleads guilty in D. C. today. Does Channel One have anything to worry about? Or will Channel One claim Casino Jack overcharged them like the Indian tribes? We will wait and see. One thing for sure – Channel One and Primedia wish they had never heard of Mr. Abramoff.
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The Jere Beasley Report
From Jim Metrock: Jere Beasley is easily the most prominent attorney in Alabama. He has built Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis and Miles into a 300-person, nationally renowned law firm. When Mr. Beasley speaks, people listen. He speaks monthly through the Jere Beasley Report. This is not a typical law firm newsletter. This is a major magazine that...
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Down, Down, Down, Down
Date Audience Schools Classrooms Documentation 1998 “more than 12,000” 1999 “more than 8 million” “more than 12,000” “440,000” 1999 “8.1 million teenagers” 2000 “over 8 million” “12,000” “400,000” 2002 “nearly 8 million teens” “over 350,000” 2003 “nearly 8 million” “nearly 12,000” July 2005 “over 7.7 million” “over 350,000” Dec. 20, 2005 “more than...
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“balanced out”
In a recent web article, Channel One’s CEO Judy Harris responded to questions about Channel One’s long history of advertising junk food and soft drinks to students. She said junk food ads that Channel One continues to run are “balanced out” by feature stories about healthy eating and living. From the Parents Action web article: “Last year...
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