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SENATORS PAN TV DRUG POLICY

WASHINGTON - Members of a Senate appropriations subcommittee
vowed Thursday to end the White House's policy of giving millions of
dollars in advertising credits to TV networks in return for placing
anti-drug messages in their programs.

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., chairman of a subcommittee that
oversees White House spending, said he was shocked to learn the
Clinton administration's drug policy office had freed the networks
from obligations to air millions of dollars worth of antidrug public
service announcements. The practice smacked of government censorship
and gave a financial windfall to the networks, which could resell the
public service time for commercials, Campbell complained.

"We're not the bad guys," the Colorado lawmaker said, promising
Congress would continue to fund a five-year, $1 billion antidrug
advertising campaign that places government anti-drug ads on television.

But both Campbell and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., expressed concern
about allowing government officials to review the content of TV
programs and then pass out large financial credits to the networks
based on the strength of the anti-drug messages in those programs.

"This does not violate the letter of the law, but it does violate the
spirit of what we're trying to do," Campbell said.

Campbell said he would add language to next year's appropriations
measure to stop the White House from offering credits to the networks.
Such a threat from the chairman of an appropriations subcommittee is
considered by most budget watchers in Washington as a done deed.

Some of the nation's most popular TV shows - among them "ER," "Chicago
Hope" and "Beverly Hills 90210" - have earned financial credits from
the White House under the program, which was disclosed last month.
White House and advertising industry officials defended the credits as
producing one of the government's most successful ad campaigns, saying
it may have curbed teenagers' drug use.

But White House documents released at the hearing Thursday also showed
that some of the $21.8 million in credits went to news programming and
to shows such as "America's Most Wanted" and "Touched by an Angel"
which already have strong anti-drug themes.

ESPN, cable sports network, received credits totaling $796,796, much
of it for news segments that dealt with the drug problems of
well-known athletes, such as former New York Giants linebacker
Lawrence Taylor and New York Yankees outfielder Darryl Strawberry.
VH-1, a music video channel, received $903,656, mostly for so-called
"rockumentary" shows that featured the lives of musicians, like Motley
Crue's Tommy Lee, Keith Moon of the Who, and Johnny Cash, who had
either drinking or drug problems.

In all, the White House said it had awarded credits for 39 separate
programs on seven networks. Reruns of some of the shows received
additional credits, but the White House did not place a value on the
credits awarded individual episodes.

Alan Levitt, an official in the Office of National Drug Control Policy
who runs the program, had planned to argue that the policy was not a
secret and had been discussed in congressional testimony. Campbell
would have none of that.

Before Levitt began to testify, the senator warned him that he
"totally rejected" those arguments and could not find a single
sentence of testimony that supported the White House's claim to have
notified Congress. Dorgan, the ranking Democrat on the panel, agreed.

[SIDEBAR]

Here are is a summary of the financial credits the White House has
granted to seven TV networks for placing anti-drug messages in their
programming.

ABC - $6.5 million for 68 episodes of 12 Among them: Home Improvement,
The Drew Carey Show, NYPD Blue, General Hospital and The Practice.

CBS - $1.7 million for four programs, L.A. Doctors, Touched by an
Angel, Promised Land and Cosby.

ESPN - $796,796 for 17 episodes of eight programs. Among them:
SportsCenter, Monday Night Countdown and ESPN News.

FOX - $4.7 million 14 episodes of four programs, America's Most
Wanted, Beverly Hills 90210, Chicago Hope and Fox Files.

NBC - $2.8 million for six programs. Among them: High Hoops, Saved by
the Bell, Masquerade, 12 Steps to Ben and Hang Time.

WB - $4.3 million for six episodes of three programs, 7th Heaven, The
Wayans Brothers and Smart Guys.

VH-1 - $903,656 for 15 episodes of 2 programs, Legends and Behind the
Music.