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.
It is difficult to imagine a company that makes more bad decisions than Channel One News. On April 21, Channel One did something that many have urged them not to do. They ran a story about the anniversary of the Columbine shootings. Was it absolutely necessary to put the Columbine tragedy into schoolchildren’s faces AGAIN? The producer of that...
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Chicago Media Watch Presentation From Jim Metrock: It was an honor to be invited to be a speaker at the spring Chicago Media Watch conference. Advertising to children was the focus of their meeting. I was to talk about Channel One. I had already committed to another meeting, so I filmed my presentation and put it on a DVD...
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This commercial for UPN’s "Top Model" was shown in schools with Channel One News
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An Open Letter to Obligation, Inc. for Parents, and Educators in “Channel One Schools” April 15, 2004 Obligation, Inc. The Barbizon Building 3100 Lorna Road, Suite 311 Birmingham, AL 35216 Dear Obligation, I have been a public school teacher in the state of Colorado for the past eleven years and have been put in the unfortunate and uncomfortable...
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“The Calling” Advertisement – March 19, 2004 This video clip is taken from Channel One News, March 19, 2004. This is one continuous clip. It is 1 minute and 14 seconds long. Anyone that has access to a calculator, please multiply 8,000,000 (students under contract to C1N) times 74 seconds. How many student hours is that? This particular show...
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From Jim Metrock: When I send Channel One’s president emails, he doesn’t respond. Therefore, I have decided to conduct a totally made-up conversation between Jim Ritts and myself. Mr. Ritts, glad to have you at Obligation’s web site. Do you mind answering a few questions I have? Metrock, you are an absolute fool. We have never met. We...
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Right now there is a “children’s” movie in the theaters that features a main character abusing inhalants. “Huffing” is the term and it is a real problem for a growing number of children. Huffing kills kids. It is irresponsible for a movie aimed at kids to normalize inhalant abuse. The movie is “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.” It was advertised on Channel One News....
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Here are a few postings from a current thread on Channel One’s Community Message Board. There are some postings that take issue with the idea that Jesus was a homosexual, but the question is why is Channel One News allowing this content on their official web site? Every message posted on their site is...
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Talking about movies, it is getting dumb and dumber at Channel One News. Why is Channel One continuing to advertise movies during school time? The company is under intense scrutiny in numerous states, yet Channel One gives its many critics more ammunition by promoting movies like "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed." Jim Metrock, president...
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