Cigarette ads up in smoke pg. 26

By: Joe Strupp The New York Times bans cigarette advertisements

The New York Times will no longer print cigarette ads after May 1, according to newspaper officials, who say the decision is based on the simple premise that tobacco is unhealthy.
"We don't want to expose our readers to advertising that may be dangerous to their health," Times spokeswoman Nancy Nielsen said in the newspaper's April 28 edition announcing the ban. "Deciding on the acceptance of advertising often means we have to weigh the pros and cons of competing and sometimes conflicting values."
The Times joins a small group of more than a dozen newspapers that have banned cigarette ads in recent years, which include The Seattle Times, The Deseret News in Salt Lake City and The Christian Science Monitor.
Nielsen says cigarette ads provide less than 1% of the newspaper's $1 billion in annual advertising revenue. The newspaper says it ran its last cigarette ad, a full-page color promotion for Carlton cigarettes, on April 26 in the Metro section and had no plans for other such ads before May 1.
Carlton is produced by the Brown & Williamson Tobacco unit of British American Tobacco.
Brown & Williamson spokesman Mark Smith criticized the newspaper's decision, saying that it is only a symbolic gesture since so little advertising comes from cigarette companies. He also calls the move "pathetic" and says it is a form of censorship.
"Isn't it ironic that a publication that trumpets freedom of the press would trample on the freedom of commercial expression?" Smith told the newspaper.
Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the Times and chairman of the New York Times Company, defends the ban, saying it is a proper business decision.
"The First Amendment gives the press the right to publish what it chooses to," he says. "It doesn't force the press to publish something, whether that's a news story or an advertisement. We continue to support the right of other publications to run any advertisement they feel is appropriate for their audience."
The new policy will not affect tobacco company ads that do not promote smoking, officials say, such as those for an event sponsored by a tobacco manufacturer. The Times already bans advertising for other legal products, such as handguns, Mace, and tear gas, officials say.
Times officials say the ban will not extend to any other New York Times Company newspapers, such as The Boston Globe or The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif.
"All of our newspaper properties have the autonomy to make decisions about the advertising they accept," Nielsen says.
The new policy is being implemented at a time when tobacco companies are having to restrict billboard advertising this month as part of a $206 billion settlement with 46 states to resolve health cost claims stemming from tobacco-related deaths and ailments, Times officials say.
?(Editor & Publisher Web Site:http:www.mediainfo.com) [Caption]
?(copyright: Editor & Publisher May 1, 1999) [Caption]