| Between October and December of 2004, Reality Check surveyed 233 school libraries across New York State (at least one in each county) to assess what magazines were carried in the libraries and of those magazines which ones carried tobacco ads. Action Items
What you can do:
Action:
Contact Attorney General Elliot Spitzer and request extending the selective binding agreement involving Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report to all school libraries. Selective binding enables schools to subscribe to magazines without tobacco advertising. Selective binding agreements should also expand to include People Magazine and Sports Illustrated, which have high youth readership in school environment.
Elliot Spitzer, Attorney General
The Capitol
Albany, NY 12224-0341
(518) 474-7330
Attorney General Website (to email him)
Here is what we found:
- Nearly three of four (73%) school libraries carry Time, Newsweek and/or US News and World Report.
- 70% of school libraries carry Sports Illustrated and/or People.
- All five of these magazines accept tobacco advertising. People, Sports Illustrated, and Time carried multiple tobacco advertisements, often more than one per issue.
Through the process of selective binding, students in classes that subscribe to Time, Newsweek, and US News and World Report avoid any tobacco advertising. This was made possible through the 2003 agreement between the National Association of Attorneys General and four tobacco companies, at no additional cost to the schools. This was a terrific accomplishment for the classrooms, but does not include the school libraries. Additionally, fewer than 23% of the schools we surveyed participate in Time, Newsweek and/or US News and World Report classroom programs. If magazines in classrooms shouldn’t carry tobacco ads, magazines in school libraries shouldn’t either. www.realitycheckny.com |
