BIG BROTHER IS AT IT AGAIN

In the works are plans to inject anti-drug messages into Hollywood films.
The effort is an extension of a campaign to influence programming material
used by such popular television shows as "E.R." and "Beverly Hills 90210."

There is nothing wrong with anti-drug messages. We could use more of them.
Nor is there anything wrong with the government promoting anti-drug
messages, as long as it is done aboveboard and the messages are clearly
labeled as sponsored by the government.

That is not how the TV campaign worked.

In 1997, Congress authorized spending $1 billion over five years to get
anti-drug messages in the popular media. The project was the brainchild of
Gen. Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy.

McCaffrey's office has proclaimed the media campaign a roaring success. The
majority of youngsters 12 to 17 are supposedly exposed to more than eight
paid anti-drug advertisements each week. That doesn't count artful messages
relayed in TV programs and assumed to be the inspiration of people who
produce the programs.

What viewers weren't told is that McCaffrey's office was giving major TV
networks millions of dollars in financial credits for secretly
incorporating anti-drug messages in various programs.

When the arrangement was revealed in January, McCaffrey was soundly accused
of censorship - of using confidential government benefits to entice TV
networks into using government-approved material.

Apparently, the criticism didn't faze him. A new proposal from McCaffrey
calls for collaborating with writers and directors of major Hollywood
studios to promote movies with anti-drug content. There is no mention of
whether financial considerations will be part of the deal.

Some members of Congress are suspicious of the proposal and intend to
examine it carefully. We hope they do. Congress shouldn't tolerate any plan
that calls for bribing entertainment media to parrot the government line
about drugs or anything else.

That's the sort of thing dictatorships do - minus the bribe, of course.