ANTI-DRUG DEAL NOT TV FICTION

The federal government gave television networks financial incentives to put
anti-drug messages into the scripts of some of their most popular shows,
including NBC's "ER," ABC's "The Practice," CBS's "Chicago Hope" and Fox's
"Beverly Hills 90210."

The White House drug office - which reviewed some scripts and footage in
advance of broadcast - valued the trade-offs at $22 million.

Most of the networks, which have long held their program content sacred and
beyond the reach of would-be government censors, issued statements denying
that they profited from the trade-offs.

The arrangement, however, was not known by most of those working on the
shows and raises serious ethical questions about how the networks can be
influenced by outside forces, especially government policy-makers, when it
comes to content.

An investigative report published Thursday by Salon.com, a San
Francisco-based online magazine, said NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and the WB offered
series episodes with anti-drug themes for the federal office's approval.
The WB was cited as the only network that changed scripts in response to
government drug experts. The shows were "Smart Guy" and "The Wayan Brothers."

If drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey's staff deemed the programs delivered a
good message, they credited advertising time the office was due back to the
networks, at least a portion of which was resold on the open market.

The arrangement began in 1997 as a well-publicized five-year, $2 billion
anti-drug campaign approved by Congress and accepted reluctantly by the
networks. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
drove a hard bargain, negotiating for a $1 billion cash package and another
$1 billion in free air time and other media considerations for its messages
- - those "this is your brain on drugs" spots, among others.

By early 1998, the TV advertising business was booming and the networks
were grumbling about all that free time they had kissed goodbye. Alan
Levitt, the ONDCP's official in charge of the campaign, saw an opportunity
and proposed that the office would accept anti-drug themed prime-time
programs in exchange for some of those free spots.

It was seen as a win-win situation, both for the ONDCP, which benefited
from having its messages couched inside some of TV's most popular shows
instead of during often-ignored commercial breaks, and for the networks,
which claimed back commercial spots at a time when Internet companies had
boosted demand.

And nearly everyone agrees it's good citizenship to discourage drug abuse.

The problems, however, are myriad:

- - The networks may have opened the floodgates for similar
programming-for-dollars arrangements with nonprofit groups, government
agencies, even ordinary advertisers like carmakers and soda brands.

- - For the most part the networks don't own the programs they have been
using for their own financial gain. Yet air time kicked back to the
networks was resold by the networks, which pocketed the proceeds.

- - Scripts and tapes of TV shows were shipped to Washington for ONDCP
approval -- and sometimes revisions - often without the knowledge of the
series' writers and producers, let alone their consent.

- - TV viewers have been unknowingly subjected to what some critics call
propaganda during a show itself, not just during the breaks when they
expect it.

ABC, for its part, says it did not profit from the arrangement because it
fulfilled its obligation to air all the free and paid spots.

"Even though we did in fact provide tapes of some of our programs after
they aired, it was a moot issue because we had over-delivered on our
(public service announcement) commitment," said ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover.

However, ABC showed it was game to make the trade-off of program content
for commercial time and other considerations by sending in tapes to the ONDCP.

Fox executives say their deal with the government called for half paid air
time and half in equivalent "media value," meaning anything from public
service announcements on air to adding those "this is your brain ..." spots
to home videocassettes. One executive said Fox did not receive anything
from the ONDCP it could resell to any other company.

ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox all insisted they retained complete artistic control
over their programs.

WB has acknowledged that a script for "Smart Guy" was altered after it was
submitted to the drug policy office based on the government's input. Jamie
Kellner, WB's top executive, told The New York Times the network was just
seeking the agency's "expertise."

One veteran producer whose series was among those cited by Salon.com was
stunned by the news, adding he never was asked by his boss or his network
to alter an episode dealing with the subject.

Terry Francke, counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition, called
the idea of the government influencing program messages "insulting."

"It certainly should raise hackles in viewers' minds," Francke said. "Are
we going to see Homer Simpson stop on the way home from the reactor to make
sure he pays his taxes promptly on April 15?"

The Salon.com story, the result of a six-month investigation by Daniel
Forbes, is sure to be the focus of the Television Critics' Association
gathering today in Pasadena. Donald Vereen, deputy director of the ONDCP,
is set to present the results of a new study about the impact of
television's portrayals of drug and alcohol abuse on viewers.