Commercial Television in the Classroom WHEREAS, commercial vendors are increasingly marketing their products to children and young people as a means of encouraging brand loyalty early in life; WHEREAS, schools are prime targets for aggressive marketing campaigns because attendance is mandatory; WHEREAS, programs such as Channel One require students to be forced to watch...
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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.
Maine Principals
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Channel One News sells advertising on its in-school TV show and on its web site. Part of the duties of Channel One’s on-air personalities is to drive children to the web site so revenues can be further enhanced. The web site was once commercial-free (all educational sites should be), but the present management is...
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Channel One Introduces New Junk Food Product
It’s not a smart thing to do, but Channel One is pressing ahead with its junk food assault on children. In September, Channel One News kicked off a heavy (virtually everyday) campaign to introduce children to a new product from Lay’s. This stackable potato chip has no trans fat, but if this is Channel...
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Howenstine School Council Minutes
HOWENSTINE SCHOOL COUNCIL MINUTES 5/13/03 Moderator, Tom Patterson, called meeting to order at 4:38 p.m. In attendance: Dawn Custis, Suzan Brown, Tom Patterson, Rex Scott, Carol Galland, Ellen D’Acquisto, Craig Drachman, Steve Goodman, Beatriz Gavino, Robin P. Plouffe, Jeff Davis, Guadalupe Felix, Maria Aguiar, Maureen Tafreshi, Kim Archer, Al Albertini Special...
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Channel One’s Latest (and Last?) Reporters
One of the youngest anchors to be hired by Channel One is one of the best they have ever had. Joshua Toole probably connects with the captive audience of students better than the other, much older reporters. (Isn’t Seth Doane getting a little long in the tooth?) He is attending college in Los Angeles...
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A Tale Of Two Teachers
From Jim Metrock: Most of the teachers I have talked to across the country are adamantly opposed to the entire concept of Channel One. (That is why only a minority of eligible schools have contracts with Channel One.) Most teachers understand the unethical nature of forcing sales pitches on students during public school time....
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Gray Davis And Channel One News
Yesterday, California voters voted to recall Gov. Gray Davis. Channel One News tried to help Gov. Davis as much as they could. They allowed Davis to use Channel One’s studio for one of his early town hall meetings. It made national news. Channel One did not allow any other candidate to use their studio...
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National Campaign Against Channel One
Ken McNatt has launched a new web site (National Campaign Against Channel One) to help citizens remove Channel One from their schools. Ken is now a freshman in college and plans on being a teacher. We need more teachers who, like Ken, understand the integrity of the classroom. Check out his site. Ken has...
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Channel One Pushing The Envelope
From Jim Metrock: One of my favorite U2 songs is called One Tree Hill. Unfortunately, this is also the name of a WB Network teen soap opera, loaded with sexual tension and teen alcohol usage, that Channel One News is currently advertising to children. The show sends an awful message to young people about alcohol. The show makes...
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Utter Waste
Words sometimes can’t capture the utter waste of time Channel One has become. You have to see this nonsense for yourself. Check out this clip from Channel One News. It is one continuous clip. Use your watch and time the clip. Picture in your mind all the students who had to sacrifice their school time to watch this...
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