Primedia
Primedia describes itself as a "targeted media company". One of the companies it owns is Channel One. Channel One targets adolescents with commercials, which Channel One has schools require students watch. Another Primedia company is the Films Media Group, a distributor to schools and libraries of videos with titles such as Free Markets, Free Choice and Confronting Communism: And the Walls Came Tumbling Down.
Primedia contributed at least $2,500 to Texans for a Republican Majority (TRM) in 2002. The contribution was made by Demetrius McDaniel, an Akin Gump lobbyist, on behalf of Primedia. In February 2004, Mr. McDaniel was called to testify before a grand jury about the donation, due to an investigation into illegal campaign contributions to the TRM PAC.[1]
Primedi and Abramoff
Primedia employed disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and associate Tony Rudy from 1999 through 2003, to lobby for Channel One. "Although it is not clear what Mr. Abramoff's firm did for Channel One, the network has faced a number of legislative threats," reports AdAge, including proposed "regulations to limit how marketers reach students. Channel One also derived much of its ad revenue from government agencies, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and military recruitment efforts." A Primedia spokesman said Abramoff's Channel One work "did not include any effort to secure government agency advertising." [2]
Contact details
45 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10151
Telephone: (212) 745-0100
Fax: (212) 745-0121
Web: http://www.primediainc.com/
External links
- "Who Owns What:Primedia", Columbia Journalism Review, July 28, 2003.
- Ira Teinowitz, "Primedia Employed Lobbyist Abramoff for Channel One: Controversial In-School Network Faced Several Legislative Threats", Advertising Age, January 11, 2006.(Registration required)
