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.
On June 4 this was posted on Channel One’s Facebook page. The lazy, pretend journalists at Channel One News have no interest in doing their TV show during the summer or for that matter on any weekend or holiday. They could easily provide young people with an up-to-the-minute news show on their website (unlike...
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From the Channel One News script May 31, 2011: WE TOLD YOU EARLIER THIS YEAR ABOUT A REPORT THAT WARNED OF HEALTH PROBLEMS AND SIDE EFFECTS CAUSED BY ENERGY DRINKS. WELL NOW, A LARGE GROUP OF DOCTORS SAY TEENS SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM THOSE ENERGY DRINKS COMPLETELY AND ONLY USE SPORTS DRINKS ONCE...
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On May 25, 2011, Channel One News devoted their entire show to advertising four ABC television shows. The...
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Click here. From Jim Metrock: Check out our Facebook page exposing musical acts that usurp school time by advertising on Channel One. One has to be a fairly sorry act to resort to advertising in public school classrooms. Most of these bands and solo acts are relatively unknown. They obviously are hoping that...
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https://obligation.org/pdf/c1brochurefinal032808.pdf
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This recruitment commercial has run for the entire 2010-11 school year. Secondary school students who are unfortunate to attend schools that still have a contract with Channel One News, have seen this one particular ad at least once every week. What’s with the young man running through the crops? Is this a not...
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Click here for full size. This insults students on several levels. This unethical “relationship” continues only because teachers, administrators, and school board members sit on their hands.
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May 24, 2011 – From Jim Metrock: Channel One News has tried many ways to confuse students. They have mixed advertising with news and feature stories, they have allowed advertisers to “sponsor” segments of the show and as we see below the allow advertisers to make their commercials look like a real news story....
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Click on image for article.
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From Jim Metrock: It’s May, 2011. Channel One News is dying. It’s a slow death, but it is fading away. Channel One News has been losing schools and revenue since 1997 (the year Obligation began this web site). As the 2010-11 school year ends, another harsh summer faces Channel One. It is in the...
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