Commercial exploitation of Schoolchildren Hall of Shame: ...
A look back to 2023: Another bad idea in...
Where are they now?: Channel One’s Kent Haehl selling...
Pop Quiz: Maggie Rulli has just… January 2, 2026 I just saw Maggie Rulli...
From Jim Metrock: About six years ago, I met several Edmodo employees at an...
Kent Haehl was Mr. Channel One News. He presided over the company for six...
From Jim Metrock: Channel One’s collapse continues. Years of mismanagement haunt this sad company. The mismanagement obviously is continuing. It looks as if PRIMEDIA, Inc. realizes that Channel One News is unsalable. Why they don’t simply shut down Channel One and donate the pathetically old TV equipment to schools remains a mystery. In the...
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"Who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behavior. It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it’s a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell." – George Gerbner ACME Accuracy in Media AdBusters Alliance for a...
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Ban BusRadio, Romney asked By RORY SCHULER Staff Writer 08/01/2006 TAUNTON -An Oregon-based activist group, Commercial Alert, has asked Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to stop BusRadio’s efforts to be heard on the Commonwealth’s public school buses. "Public education in Massachusetts is a public trust," the group’s executive director, Gary Ruskin, wrote in a letter...
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Bus Radio company makes their pitch in Swansea BY VINAYA SAKSENA SWANSEA – The Swansea School Committee is considering an offer to introduce student-oriented radio programming for kids to listen to on the bus ride to and from school. At the school committee’s last meeting, a representative of the Bus Radio company, located in...
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Mansfield pulls plug on Bus Radio BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF MANSFIELD — School officials have pulled the plug on Bus Radio, the latest commercial attempt to reach students — this time with a blend of music, advertising and public service announcements. The school committee Tuesday night, citing parents’ feedback, rescinded a...
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In 2006 it is hard to imagine a school board that would seriously consider signing a contract with Channel One. Let’s hope the school board members will listen to the citizens who value education over marketing. from the Nutley Journal Channel One faces local residents By Roman J. Uschak, Staff Writer Wednesday,...
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Ralph Reed, Channel One’s longtime stooge, ran for Lt. Governor in Georgia. This week he was defeated by a relatively unknown state senator in the Republican primary. It was a race he should have easily won except for the friends he kept and the money he made from Indian tribes and the casinos they...
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The new home for what remains of Channel One’s programming staff. From Jim Metrock: It’s a long and brutal ride to the bottom for our friends at Channel One News. This week, I paid a visit to their new studio in Washington DC. I was underwhelmed, but not surprised. As a cost-cutting measure...
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Sigma Partners is a venture capital firm. They raise money and then invest it in new start-up companies. If the new companies become successful, they are often sold and Sigma makes a lot of money. Sigma gave BusRadio $4 million to get going. Robert Davoli is the partner who is in charge of BusRadio...
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From Jim Metrock: In 1999, the National Journal reported Channel One Network paid the Preston Gates lobbying firm in Washington DC $820,000. That figure represented only the first half of the year. That is a good example of the lavish spending habits of Channel One in the 90’s. This was the Golden Era...
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Targeting Kids – BusRadio aims to bring commercials to Massachusetts school buses. by Maureen Turner – June 15, 2006 Valley Advocate The average American child sees 40,000 television commercials a year, psychologist Susan Linn reports in her 2004 book Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood. That’s not including the countless other ads that...
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For most people a school bus is about safety. When I see a school bus, I automatically slow down. I want to give a school bus wide berth. I know – we all know – the importance of its cargo…schoolchildren…other people’s children. I think about the parents who walk their children to the bus...
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From Jim Metrock: In previous years, as Channel One News signed off for the summer, all the anchors would appear on the show together for a joyful "goodbye" to their captive student audience. One year, they all frolicked on the Santa Monica beach as they all talked about the stories they would cover in...
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If student produced news stories appear on a Channel One nationally broadcast program, shouldn’t the school that expended the costs in creating the content receive a portion of Channel One’s advertising revenue? Channel One News is asking students to help them develop program content for the 2006-07 school year. This week, the company...
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PepsiCo’s Gatorade is a long-time advertiser on Channel One News. We have previously reported* about the enormous amounts of time Channel One allows Gatorade to sell their product to preteens and teens. In addition to commercials, Gatorade sponsor’s the weekly “Play of the Week” which is nothing more than a long-form commercial. Now Channel One News is going even...
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From Jim Metrock: Channel One News is the self-proclaimed “preeminent news and public affairs content provider for teens.” It has also called itself the “leading provider of news and educational programs in America’s secondary schools.” They have said their company will continue their ” mission of educating and informing teens.” Critics of Channel One have always said it is a...
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Note to Channel One: Take more time hiring your lobbyists. From Jim Metrock: This is getting ugly. Team Abramoff was a group of lobbyists in Washington DC that could move heaven and earth for those who paid them enough money. Channel One and their parent company PRIMEDIA paid A LOT of money to Team Abramoff from 1999 to 2004. What did...
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Cali Carlin surrounded by the band Taking Back Sunday. Taking Back Sunday is the name of a rock band. Taking Back Sunday just released a new CD "Louder Now" on April 25. Taking Back Sunday needs teens and preteens to buy "Louder Now" their new CD. Taking Back Sunday’s management arranged for...
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A lobbyist tied to Jack Abramoff has pled guilty to conspiracy. Tony Rudy like “Casino Jack” Abramoff did work for PRIMEDIA and Channel One Network along with other firms. Rudy’s and Abramoff’s troubles don’t have anything to do with Channel One, but the public needs to know the type of people that Channel One hired to represent them on Capitol Hill, at...
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Channel One News offers a lot of opportunities to advertisers. Advertisers are able to craft their sales pitches in unique ways on Channel One. Advertisements can be made to look like news stories. We have reported before on the use of fake news reporters being used in Channel One commercials. This past Friday, during a special Town Hall meeting with...
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This is an update to our April 3 article "Dear Channel One, Please Stop Your Deceptive Advertising." Obligation filed a complaint about the Fly Pen computer commercial to the Children Advertising Review Unit (CARU) an industry-funded watchdog group. We said we would post their reply to our complaint when we received it. Here...
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Judy Harris’s carefully crafted comments get examined. Channel One CEO Judy Harris "messages" at the National Governor’s Conference. 2/26/06 What Channel One’s Judy Harris had to say. What Obligation’s Jim Metrock had to say. Ms. Harris introduced. Why is Ms. Harris here? Why I joined Channel One. That isn’t what you said...
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