ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 1, 1995                   TAG: 9511010080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO                                LENGTH: Medium

WEEKLY READER UNDER FIRE

The Weekly Reader spread tobacco industry views and Joe Camel's image to millions of elementary schoolchildren and was far less likely than a competing newsletter to include health warnings, a University of California study has concluded.

At the time the articles appeared, from 1989 to 1994, the Weekly Reader's owner was the largest shareholder in RJR Nabisco, the creator of Joe Camel, the cartoon mascot for Camel cigarettes. It has since sold its interest.

In October 1994, health advocates attacked the Weekly Reader over an article for youngsters that discussed smokers' rights and the harm to the industry from smoking restrictions. The article said nothing about smoking as a cause of lung cancer and heart disease.

Following that uproar, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco analyzed 34 articles from the Weekly Reader dealing with smoking. For comparison, they analyzed 28 from another school newsletter, Scholastic News, which is published by a family-owned company.

In the Weekly Reader, 68 percent of the articles included tobacco industry views and only 38 percent carried a clear message against smoking. In Scholastic News, only 32 percent of articles included industry views and 79 percent carried anti-smoking warnings.

``Weekly Reader's interest in presenting both sides of an argument can often lead to ambiguity, similar to the ambiguity promoted by the tobacco industry,'' said Stanton Glantz, one of the study's authors. ``They're reinforcing the industry's message.''

The researchers presented their findings Monday at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association.

John Pierce, director of the cancer prevention center at the University of California, San Diego, said: ``It's a serious concern that something with such widespread inroads into kids' lives is basically a marketing effort for the industry.''

Sandra Maccarone, Weekly Reader's editor in chief, was traveling and could not be reached for comment and no one else at the company could comment on the study, Maccarone's office said. 


 by CNB