How They Voted In Alabama

February 20, 2005

Last week, Alabama handed
Channel One a major setback. The State Board
of Education voted 5-1, with one abstaining, to recommend Channel
One News refrain from advertising junk food, over-the-counter medicine,
and movies that receive a rating based on sexual, violent, alcohol
or drug content.

Students were well served by this action.

As other states begin to deal with Channel One’s waste of tax
money and questionable content, we thought it would be of interest
to show how the Alabama SBOE voted. The final amendment read as
follows:

"The State Board of Education recommends that Channel
One refrain from advertising high-sugar, high-fat, or low nutritional
value food or drink products, over-the-counter medicines, or
movies and television shows that receive a MPAA rating for sexual,
violent, or drug content. The Channel One web site and any recommended
links on the Channel One web site are included. Monitoring shall
be the responsibility of local school personnel, parents, and
Channel One."

 

Governor Bob Riley

Not Present

Originally opposed to Channel One, he
has done a "180." One of his chief advisors has
been working for Channel One since 1999.

 

 

 

 

Ella Bell

abstained

Has accepted campaign money from Channel
One’s lobbying firm. It looked like she was about to raise
her hand to vote for the amendment, but ultimately refused
to vote.

Randy McKinney

YES

Accepted campaign money from Channel One’s
lobbyist, but said he was returning the money to avoid
the appearance of impropriety.

Introduced the amendment that passed.

 

 

 

David Byers

YES

Praised Channel One for their content.
He saw nothing wrong in the two weeks he watched Channel
One. (He apparently saw the X-rated Missy
Elliott ad and didn’t know who she was.) He believes
commercials can have a place in classrooms.

He voted for the final amendment.

Betty Peters

YES

She introduced the original amendment.
Original language called for schools to end their contracts
with Channel One if company did not clean up their act.
She is a long-time supporter of commercial-free classrooms.

Sandra Ray

NO

Has accepted thousands
of dollars of campaign contributions from Channel One’s
lobbying firm.

If this reasonable
language could not be supported by Ms. Ray, it is difficult
to imagine a situation where Ms. Ray will vote against
the corporate interests of Channel One.

Stephanie Bell

YES

Helped write the original amendment. Refused
Channel One’s campaign contribution. She beat Dr.
John Draper, a Channel One-backed opponent, in the
last year’s Republican primary.

Dr. Mary Jane Caylor

YES

Has taken campaign money from Channel
One’s parent company PRIMEDIA. She voted against the original
amendment but supported the second one

 

Dr. Ethel Hall

Not Present

She has been indifferent to Channel One’s
commercial presence in classrooms, even though C1N disproportionately
robs minority students of school time.

 

 

Dr. Joe Morton

State Superintendent

He does not vote. He has been reluctant
to say anything critical of Channel One, much less take
any action. He has refused to do a financial analysis of
Channel One’s cost to the state.

He approved a Channel One contract, which
brought junk food ads into classrooms, when he was a local
superintendent.