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.
Students routinely see feature stories on Channel One News about teenagers with drug or alcohol PROBLEMS. Typically, the Channel One reporter will end the story looking at the camera and saying, "If you know someone with a drinking problem, visit Channel One.com." The executives who produce Channel One News clearly believe that occasional or...
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Note: Gatorade has been for over a decade, and is currently, a major advertiser on Channel One News. Each Friday, Channel One runs a long-form advertisement for the product called the "Gatorade Play of the Week." Students send in video clip of a sports play and then if their clip is chosen the school...
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Casino Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed Don’t let the smiles fool ya. Masters of Sleaze by David Brooks Op-ed in the New York Times March 22, 2005 Down in the depths of the netherworld, where Tammany Hall grafters and Chicago ward heelers gather amid spittoons and brass railings, a reverential silence now spreads across...
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Each year Channel One News offers a chance for students to help produce one week of the program. This is called Student Produced Week (SPW). For months, Channel One wastes valuable time on their show to promote this event. This year they took a page from reality shows and had four students co-host the...
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Gary Boyes believes his daughter’s school should serve his daughter and other students, not Pepsi or Channel One. He has even sued Channel One in his home state of Oregon. He first made news for protesting his school district’s exclusive cola contract. This outrageous contract prevented his daughter from selling water to raise money...
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Before we explain the strange language above, how about a little quiz? Watch this video clip from the end of a Channel One show. The questions will pertain to what you read on the video clip. It will play at the actual speed students saw it in their classrooms. Obligation didn’t speed it up, honest. You can watch...
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01011110100010110000000000000000000000 From Jim Metrock: Last year, at an education conference I met several superintendents and principals who painted a dismal picture of Channel One and their maintenance contractor Convergent Media. TVs weren’t being maintained or replaced on a timely basis. Network problems were taking months to be fixed. The problems with Convergent will...
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From Screenit.com’s content review of Dodgeball (PG13) released 2004: SEX/NUDITY content includes: wIn a video promo for White’s gym, we see various close-up shots of shapely young women’s butts in small and tight-fitting shorts, as well as some shots of bulky male bodybuilders. wNecrophilia is listed as a genetic disorder. wWe see an old...
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Excerpts from Advertising Age magazine March 14, 2005 Channel One hits bump, losing ads and top exec In-school TV network often targeted by critics hurt as Kellogg, Kraft shy away due to kid obesity debate By Claire Atkinson Its equipment is badly in need of an upgrade, advertisers are fleeing, critics are declaring they want to put it...
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PRIMEDIA press release: PRIMEDIA Names Judy L. Harris President & Chief Executive Officer of Channel One NEW YORK, NY (March 09, 2005) — PRIMEDIA, Inc. (PRM) The country’s leading targeted media company, today announced the appointment of Judy L. Harris as President & Chief Executive Officer of Channel One, the largest source of news and information for young people...
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