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: On Monday, Primedia, the parent company of Channel One News, announce that it is considering splitting the company into two separate companies. One would contain the companies that have a bright future and solid earnings potential and the other would have the problem companies like Channel One News. Also, it was announced that CEO Kelly...
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Madonna is using taxpayers again to help Maverick, her record and movie company. Schoolchildren watched what appeared to be a public service announcement. It was a PSA but it included a shameless plug for a new Maverick movie co-produced by Madonna – the original “Material Girl.” Maverick is Madonna’s own record label and movie production company. It is a...
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The states of Texas and Alabama have gone on record asking Channel One News to refrain from advertising foods of minimal nutritional value (FMNV). The Texas Public School Nutrition Policy lists chewing gum as a FMNV. Yet Channel One News continues to not only run ads for chewing gum and bubble gum, but they are using their unique...
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Imagine you could have eavesdropped on a conversation in the office of Channel One’s president Judy Harris a few weeks ago. The new sales VP takes a seat. [We don’t know who the new VP is since Kent Haehl, the longtime person at that spot resigned or was fired this summer. We will call the new person...
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Subway has a delicious deal with Channel One News. Subway will buy regular ad time on the show and Channel One will mix Subway promotions into the “news” part of the program. Channel One is not suppose to do that. They are not to have sponsored segments of their show, but they have been fudging on their contract...
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PRIMEDIA is Channel One’s parent company. They have contacted Obligation in November, 2005 and said that no money has ever been paid to Channel One for a guest anchor’s appearance. Obligation believes that what Channel One News is doing is wrong. It is unethical and violates journalism standards. We believe there is a quid pro quo for Channel One...
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This is the first paragraphs of Channel One’s promotion of Missy Elliott and her new UPN TV show. Don’t be fooled by the “make an anti-violence spot” language. This is the “cover” Channel One uses to give their ad campaigns some respectability. Missy Elliott is a singer who revels in violence, raunchy sex and drugs and more drugs. Channel One’s...
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On September 8, students saw a report on the rescue of an American hostage in Iraq. Channel One News could have told this story without video or even pictures. An anchor could have just looked in the camera and read the teleprompter just like they often do on other news stories. They had plenty of footage to choose...
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On Tuesday, September 13, students watched a violent ad for a new horror TV series called Supernatural. Above: (From the commercial shown in middle schools and in some fifth grade classrooms.) Those two marks on this man’s forehead are drops of blood. The students see one drop, then another. The man is seeing something...
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Here are several frames from a controversial new commercial running on Channel One News. (This was shown to high school students, middle school students as well as some fifth graders.) Channel One’s little horror film starts with a young couple in a parked car. Everything is very romantic until… The woman hears “something” outside the car. She turns...
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