FCC SLAPS ANTI-DRUG TV SHOWS -- WHITE HOUSE PAID FOR SCRIPTS IT LIKED

Federal regulators have ruled that the major networks should have
identified the White House as a sponsor of programs such as "The
Practice," "The Drew Carey Show" and "America's Most Wanted" when
their plots included anti-drug messages for which the government paid
the networks millions of dollars.

The Federal Communications Commission stopped short of fining any of
the networks for violating its rules but ordered them to begin
identifying the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy as
a sponsor of shows that include anti-drug messages underwritten by
the federal government.

When the White House's involvement in the network shows was first
widely revealed almost a year ago, it was criticized by members of
Congress and First Amendment advocates who argued that the White
House should not be involved in sensitive programming decisions such
as approving scripts. Network officials said at congressional
hearings this year that they showed the White House completed scripts
and never altered a plot to increase their compensation.

During the past two years, networks including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox
received a total of $25 million for including anti-drug messages in
prime-time programming. It was revealed at congressional hearings
that the White House reviewed scripts for more than 100 shows to
determine if the anti-drug message of a particular program was strong
enough to merit payment.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
filed a complaint with the FCC claiming that the networks' failure to
identify the White House as a sponsor of the anti-drug shows violated
FCC disclosure rules. In its ruling, the FCC noted that the
sponsorship regulations have had the same purpose since they were
first formulated in 1927 -- which is that listeners and viewers "are
entitled to know by whom they are being persuaded."

R. Keith Stroup, executive director of NORML, said yesterday that he
was pleased that the FCC ruled that the networks should have
identified the White House as a sponsor of the anti-drug episodes.
But the FCC's ruling did not address the larger issue of whether the
government should support a specific viewpoint in prime-time
entertainment shows. That kind of arrangement threatens the First
Amendment guarantee of free speech, Stroup said.

"We have been told by these programmers that they have influenced the
programs in order to please the government. That is not the kind of
free press we have grown accustomed to," Stroup said.

The networks had no comment on the FCC action yesterday. The FCC
released the order late Friday, and most network officials were
either away for the holiday or were still unaware yesterday that the
agency had ruled.

The relationship between the White House's anti-drug office and the
networks dates to 1997, when Congress appropriated $1 billion to
spend on anti-drug advertising over five years. The networks have
benefited from most of the ad spending, but newspapers and magazines
also have been paid to carry ads.

The federal advertising came with a major string attached. Any
network that accepted the money had to match it dollar for dollar
with its own anti-drug public service announcements. Congress saw the
requirement as an effective way of doubling the campaign's reach.

The networks initially accepted the conditions. But as the economy
picked up and advertising time grew more valuable, the networks
sought to reduce their requirement to air public service
announcements. They wanted to sell the ad time to dot-com companies
and others who were willing to pay top dollar for access to the
networks' audience. The White House agreed to allow the networks to
submit shows with anti-drug messages instead of the public service
announcements.