Does your school still have Channel One News?
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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.

Channel One Wants Principals To Help Promote Madonna’s Recording Company

March 18, 2002
Channel One Wants Principals To Help Promote Madonna’s Recording Company

Developing story: Madonna’s recording company, Maverick Records, is now a very significant advertiser on Channel One News. Channel One is running a major contest that is loaded with problems for teachers, principals and school boards. On Channel One’s web site the "top story" of the day, a Monday, was the introduction of this contest....
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Ralph Reed Continues To Push Hollywood’s Pipeline To Kids – Channel One

March 16, 2002
Ralph Reed Continues To Push Hollywood’s Pipeline To Kids – Channel One

Why is this man smiling? You would to if you had the money Channel One News was paying Ralph Reed.   Ralph Reed continues to work in the shadows for Channel One. Reed has been receiving money from Channel One since at least 1999, although he does not publicly acknowledge his contract with them. Obligation...
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Women’s Sports Foundation

March 14, 2002

A new advertiser on Channel One is the Women’s Sports Foundation. This nonprofit has been running their spots on C1 for the last two months. On yesterday’s and today’s show, Donna Lopiano,a spokesperson for the Foundation was given significant interview time for a story about a 1972 law concerning sports programs for women and girls. Also, the...
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THE CINGULAR ‘QUESTION OF THE DAY’ PROMOTION

March 12, 2002

OFFICIAL RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. A PURCHASE DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. YOU MUST BE 13 YEARS OF AGE TO ENTER THE PROMOTION. 1. Eligibility: Entrant must be from a Channel One school, between 13-18 years of age, and a legal resident of the 48 contiguous United States and...
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Apologize – Email To Jim Morris

March 11, 2002

From: <jimmetrock@mindspring.com> Date: Sat Mar 09, 2002 11:43:25 PM US/Central To: jmorris@channelone.com Subject: Apologize on air for using reporters to push products Dear Mr. Morris: Although I believe you should resign for allowing your young reporters to unethically do ads during the non-commercial part of Channel One News, I think it is much more...
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Channel One’s Supermodel – Derrick Shore

March 8, 2002
Channel One’s Supermodel – Derrick Shore

This is Derrick Shore. He is a Channel One reporter. He is proudly wearing a Columbia Sportswear jacket. We have already reported on his modeling of advertiser’s clothing during the Olympics. Shore is not a real journalist, so apparently it did not cross his mind that he was violating journalistic standards, but still he...
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Cingular

March 7, 2002

When Channel One’s obituary is written, March 6, 2002 will surely be mentioned. Yesterday, after the second and last block of commercials, Channel One reporters did an extended commercial for Cingular Wireless cell phones – during the supposedly non-commercial part of the TV show. Obligation’s Jim Metrock said, "This is a shocker. To see...
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Smell Tax Money Burning – One Way C1 Wastes School Time

March 5, 2002

This video clip is from the introduction to the January 31 show. It is similar to every other day. What you will see when you click on the link to the QuickTime movie is what children in Channel One schools saw at the very beginning of Channel One News. Imagine you are a student...
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NBA AND CHANNEL ONE NETWORK ENTER MULTI-YEAR PROGRAMMING AGREEMENT

March 1, 2002

NBA Becomes First Pro Sports League to Ink Deal With Teen Network Channel One New York, March 27, 2001 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Channel One Network, a Primedia company (NYSE: PRM) and the number one source of news for America’s teens, have entered a multi-year agreement that will bring NBA players...
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Horrific Bat Mitzvah Shooting Shown On Channel One – “Repugant Decision Making At Channel One News”

February 21, 2002

One reason Channel One has been unsuccessful is it has always been insensitive to the special nature of its unique audience. Children as young as ten are in Channel One’s captive audience, yet Channel One delivers the same editorial content to middle school children as they do high school students. On January 22, Channel...
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