A distraught mother in Utah wrote us that her 12-year-old son was traumatized by a violent segment on Channel One. She said that on January 28 and 29, her son watched a sniper put the cross hairs of a rifle on a baby’s face and then a shot rang out. The boy has a new baby sister, the...
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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.
Students See Baby Shot In The Face On Channel One
“Channel One Practices Raise Tough Questions”
SIZE=”-1″ FACE=”Arial”>Cover of “Alabama School Boards” magazine for December 1997. “Alabama School Boards” is the monthly magazine published by the Alabama Association of School Boards. They asked Obligation to write an article about the controversial Channel One TV show and web site. Obligation hopes that articles like this will encourage Alabama school boards to quickly remove this marketing device from our...
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Chris Farley Death Story Eats Up Two Minutes of School Time
Channel One’s in-school TV show spent two minutes covering the death of and paying tribute to the comedic actor Chris Farley. It was considered a major story by Channel One on this Monday morning’s broadcast. Jim Metrock, Obligation president, said, “This is typical Channel One. They don’t care if they waste a student’s time,...
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News About Channel One – Aug – Dec 1997
Obligation, Inc. – Channel One Is Bad News For Kids To 1998 Press Releases and News About Channel One Press Releases and News About Channel One – 1997 December 15, 1997 – Mississippi Baptist Christian Action Commission Newsletter Addresses Channel One Concerns November 27, 1997 – Channel One May Have Advertised Adult Soap Opera...
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Channel One Reviews Explicit-Content CDs for Children
Ever since we started monitoring Channel One’s web site (November 1996), Channel One has been involved with ranking or reviewing current music for its audience. Their Playlist tells kids what are the hottest groups in the country. Web visitors would vote for their favorites and Channel One would publish the results. Marilyn Manson, Bone Thugs and Harmony...
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Mississippi Baptist Christian Action Commission Newsletter Addresses Channel One Concerns
The problems with Channel One were the focus of an article appearing in "Salt & Light" a newsletter of the Mississippi Baptist Christian Action Commission. The article, "Channel One – Captive Audience in the Classroom", mentioned many of Obligation’s findings and research, along with listing the numerous organizations that oppose Channel One. The article...
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Channel One May Have Advertised Adult Soap Opera To Children
It appears that ABC’s steamy "Port Charles" soap opera was advertised to Channel One’s captive audience of eight million schoolchildren at least once this year. We are awaiting a response from Channel One’s Madison Avenue headquarters, so we have to couch our words with qualifiers. This is what is known: Teachers in several states,...
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Antidotes To Pop Culture Poison
Obligation was pleased to contribute information for the article "Antidotes to Pop Culture Poison" in the December issue of The Heritage Foundation’s magazine, "Policy Review". Author Kris Napier gives parents solid steps they can take to help combat the popular culture’s impact on their children. The article mentions our efforts to encourage schools to...
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Will Channel One Let You Own the Equipment?
A Kansas middle school teacher who is very familiar with Channel One sent us a letter, dated November 12,1997, telling us how wonderful Channel One is. She says, "At the end of three years, if the school no longer wishes to be a part of Channel 1, the equipment becomes the property of the...
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A Soap Opera Ad On Channel One?
Do you know what soap opera was advertised on Channel One in May of this year? Click on this line and email us. Thanks. (All information is confidential.) We feel safe in saying now that a soap opera was pitched to children by Channel One in May of this year. We first heard the...
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