March 11th, 1999
Message for the Medium
By Bill McAllister
Washington Post
It’s a well-established Washington maxim that when you’re being attacked by both conservatives and liberals, you’re doing something right. That, however, is not the attitude of the folks at Channel One Network.
The New York-based television programming service beams educational and daily news programming by satellite to about 12,000 schools across the country. But its 10-minute news shows, served up with two minutes of commercials, are being savaged by groups that range from Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum to Ralph Nader and the Traditional Values Coalition.
“It’s a remarkable coalition. From right to left, everyone agrees that Channel One is bad for children and taxpayers,” says Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert, a Washington-group that is leading the opposition.
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) wants the Labor and Education Committee to hold hearings on Channel One, which offers free satellite hookups to schools willing to let their students watch its shows. “Senator Shelby feels there are better ways to bring technology into the classroom without the commercialism of Channel One,” says spokeswoman Andrea Andrews.
Channel One has turned to Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds for help. The law firm has assigned some of its top conservatives to the case, including former representative David Funderburk (R-N.C.) and William Jarrell, former deputy chief of staff to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
“We’re not sophisticated Washington lobbyists. We’re used to dealing with teachers,” says Channel One spokesman Jeffrey H. Ballabon. “We just want people who understand how Washington works to help us tell our message.”
Actually Channel One does understand some things in Washington. It claims to have snagged Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) for his first TV interview after his election as House speaker. Schlafly complained to the Republican National Committee that the interview was “as offensive to conservative, pro-family people as if you bragged that Denny Hastert gave his first interview to the Playboy Channel.”