wfn.org | AFSC: Military recruitment on Channel One

[RByler@afsc.org]

AFSC's national Youth and Militarism Program has worked with the Center for
Media Education and the Center for Commercial-Free Education to monitor
Channel One's use of military-related ads and articles.  For your attention --

For Immediate Release
February 25, 1997

Contact:  
Harold Jordan, American Friends Service Committee (215) 241-7176
Rachel Swain, Communication Works (415) 255-1946

Military Recruitment Goes On-Line with Channel One 

Education Advocates Outraged to Find Young Students Targeted by Channel One's 
Web Site with Direct Links to an Advertiser -- the Army.

PHILADELPHIA/OAKLAND (Calif.) - Education advocates charge that Channel One
violates journalistic and advertising standards by recruiting students for
the military with direct links to Army recruitment on its on-line internet
web site.  Channel One runs a commercial satellite television network viewed
by 40% of the nation's middle and high school students, as well as a
youth-oriented, interactive web site.
	On February 6 Channel One featured a story on its web site about joining
the Army, "You're in the Army Now: Joining America's Armed Forces," by
Melissa Mummert, with hyperlinks to the Army's recruitment home page
(www.goarmy.com). The Army is also a Channel One advertiser.  Together,
Channel One and the Army are "selling the military" by tailoring news to fit
the needs of an advertiser, critics say.
	Harold Jordan, coordinator of the national Youth and Militarism Program of
the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), said that "Channel One's
presentation of the Army is a deceptive way of selling the military."
Jordan noted that this advertising is part of a national program to "beef
up" recruitment by presenting the military as the only desirable job option
for younger students.  Dubbing the military's advertising strategy as "hit
them early and often," Jordan adds that this is an inappropriate way of
selling any occupation, especially one that involves substantial personal risk. 
	"Children in fifth and sixth grades are too young to understand the
consequences of fighting in wars and shouldn't be exposed to glamorous
military recruitment ads," said Jordan.  The AFSC examined the expansion of
the military's school-based program in the recent report, Making Soldiers in
the Public Schools, by researchers from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill..
	"Channel One is an advertisement vehicle that does not even meet national
recommendations for advertising to children on-line," according to Shirley
Pasnick of the Center for Media Education.  Channel One's Web site was
recently reviewed by the Center for Media Education in a national study by
researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Vassar College.  Their report
concludes that Channel One violates an on-line advertising principle that
"content areas for young people should not link directly to advertising sites."
	Channel One is part of a growing trend of commercializing America's
schools, according to Marianne Manilov, executive director of the Center for
Commercial-Free Public Education.  "Channel One crosses ethical and moral
boundaries when it comes to selling our schools to the highest bidder." 
	Most national education groups, including the National Education
Association, the National PTA, and the American Association of School
Administrators, oppose Channel One.  The state of New York has banned
Channel One.  Channel One continues to face grass roots opposition around
the country. 
	For more information, contact Harold Jordan at AFSC (215) 241-7176 or
Rachel Swain at Communication Works (415) 255-1946.
-- 30 --
Please note these web site addresses: 

www.channelone.com/ns/news/97/02/970206/story1.html -- Channel One news
story about the military.
tap.epn.org/cme/chan1.html - Center of Media Education study, "Channel One
On-line: Advertising, Not Educating."
www.afsc.org/execfin.htm - American Friends Service Committee study, Making
Soldiers in the Public Schools.

J.Ron Byler
Director of Media Relations
American Friends Service Committee
PH: 215/241-7060
FAX: 215/241-7275
E-MAIL: RByler@afsc.org
http://www.afsc.org