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.
We have a winner! Four Wastin’ School Time and Tax Dollars awards will be given out each school year by Obligation. The first winner is Lardner Middle School in the Niles Community School District in Niles, Michigan. Lardner beat out several other schools. Other schools nominated for the first award were: Avon Middle School...
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When Channel One News wants to sell a young person something (which is the main reason the company exists), they don’t fool around. For weeks Channel One has been pounding students in their classrooms and visitors to their website (channelone.com) with ads for the Samsung Focus smart phone. Above one sees a Samsung...
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From Jim Metrock: We have redesigned Obligation.org to make it easier to find articles, videos and PDFs. This time of year is when schools begin talking about ending their contracts with Channel One. School boards often vote in the spring time to remove the program over the upcoming summer months. Making our website more...
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From Jim Metrock: Here’s another nominee for our Wastin’ Time and Tax Dollars award: Castle Dome Middle School in Yuma, AZ. Not only does the school spend valuable time watch Channel One with its ads for rock bands and movies, but the principal, Lori A. Sheffield, allowed students to take up time to...
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Q: Did the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination, really pass a resolution denouncing Channel One News? A: It’s true and the unanimous 1999 resolution had a devastating effect on the controversial youth marketing company. The resolution which received national attention helped cause Channel One...
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From Jim Metrock: The website for Channel One News has always been one of the uglier parts of this controversial youth marketing company. The adults running the site act as if their young visitors are merely a source of revenue. There is little protection for young people who venture on the site. Channel One’s...
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