Joe Camel Goes to Grade School : Article on cigarettes in newspaper for fifth-graders sets off a controversy

William F. Reilly, chairman of the company that publishes the Weekly Reader, a current-events newspaper for schoolchildren, says each of his publications has total editorial independence. Weekly Reader Editor Sandra Maccarone says corporate ownership played no role in her decision to run this week’s cover story for fifth graders--10-year-olds--entitled “Do Cigarettes Have a Future?”

Reilly and Maccarone may be entirely sincere. On the other hand, they may be engaging in spin control on behalf of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the company that controls both K-III Communications Corp., Weekly Reader’s publisher, and RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., America’s second-largest cigarette manufacturer and the maker of Camel.

Either way, the cigarette article has ignited a billowing controversy for a publication that most schoolchildren see as anything but controversial. Whether or not RJR Nabisco or Kohlberg intervened, the subject matter is, in our view, inappropriate for 10-year-olds. And the article casts cigarette companies as linchpins of the American economy rather than as peddlers of what some call “coffin nails.”

The Weekly Reader story focuses on “smokers’ rights” and the harm to tobacco companies from smoking restrictions. The “critical thinking” question that 600,000 or so fifth-graders across the country pondered this week: “How might a nationwide ban on public smoking affect people who now smoke?”

Among the costs of a ban: “Nearly 47,000 people who work for tobacco companies would lose their jobs” and the loss of cigarette tax revenue would mean “less money” for schools and health care. And on the other side? “Many scientists believe there is a link between smoking and a shortened life span.” Yes, as in death from cancer or heart disease.

Included as supplementary material for this week’s fifth-grade edition is a color poster that, indeed, graphically displays cigarette damage to lungs. But Joe Camel appears too, in a large illustration with the story. That choice raises disturbing questions not just because Camel is made by RJR Nabisco but also because the company has steadfastly denied it uses this cartoon character to hook children. Oh, the caption on the pictured Joe Camel ad: “It pays to be smooth.” Sure seems to.