Victory: AOL Time Warner backs down

[Gary Ruskin]

Commercial Alert				March 25, 2002

We won: AOL Time Warner has reversed itself, and decided not to put ads
on CNN Student News.  The program shown in about 18,000 schools across
the country.

Two weeks ago, Commercial Alert, Obligation and a coalition of child
advocates sent letters to the top 50 U.S. advertising agencies, asking
them not to advertise on CNN Student News.

Following is a front-page article in today's Atlanta
Journal-Constitution.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/today/news_c3e98d02e2c461950007.html

CNN Student News will stay free of ads; Revenue bid triggered backlash
from groups
by Matt Kempner
          
AOL Time Warner is backing off plans to sell paid sponsorships for a
commercial-free, educational CNN news show used in 18,000 U.S. schools. 

Critics had slammed the plans as an example of increased commercialism
in classrooms. Ralph Nader, Consumer Reports publisher Consumers Union
and others recently sent letters to advertising agencies urging them not
to take part in the program. 

"We understand that this is a hot-button issue, and to put Turner
Learning at the center of the controversy would be a disservice to its
mission," said Brad Turell, a spokesman for AOL's Atlanta-based Turner
Broadcasting System, which includes CNN. 

CNN Student News has been commercial-free and financially unprofitable
ever since Ted Turner launched it 13 years ago as a way to tell students
about world events. 

Earlier this year, executives decided to begin including paid
sponsorships in the program, which would include only the sponsor's name
and, perhaps, mention of their educational initiative or product,
officials said. 

AOL Time Warner executives said they don't anticipate the issue coming
up again. 

"We're glad that AOL Time Warner has come to its senses," said Gary
Rushkin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a small nonprofit that
opposed the sponsorships. 

Even inside New York-based AOL Time Warner, some questioned why the
company would have put the program's credibility at risk for relatively
little sponsorship revenue. Company officials had said the money would
have defrayed some of the costs of improving the half-hour program. 

CNN Student News airs at 4:30 a.m. during the week. Teachers tape the
show and use it in their classrooms, primarily in middle and high
schools.

<----article ends here---->

BACKGROUND:
For more information about CNN Student News, see:
<http://www.commercialalert.org/cnn/index.html>.


Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its
proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting
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-- 
Gary Ruskin | gary@commercialalert.org 
Commercial Alert | http://www.commercialalert.org/
Congressional Accountability Project | http://www.congressproject.org/
phone: 503.235.8012 | fax: 503.235.5073

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