FEDS IN THE TV STUDIO

While I agree far more with the lead editorial ("Gen. McCaffrey on
prime time," Jan. 16) than with the same edition's article by TV
critic Tim Goodman ("TV scandal du jour just Hollywood selling out"),
both pieces underestimate the seriousness of the Office of National
Drug Control Policy's secret intrusion into the content of network
television. [The White House, under fire, has since stopped
scrutinizing TV scripts before airing.]

At least the editorial expresses some concern for the First Amendment.
Goodman dismisses those concerns with the airy remark, "Television
does not have a soul."

For Goodman's information, this isn't Pottery Barn slipping the
network some payola for favorable mention of a table; it's the U.S.
Government using tax dollars to subvert the First Amendment and
bolster a floundering program which is also asking for over $1 billion
to expand our drug war in Colombia.

One of the reasons drug prohibition became so ascendant as U.S. policy
was the almost reflex response by all media to report only the
opinions of government and law enforcement sources. It was only
recently that critics of drug policy were even acknowledged to exist.

The result has been a grotesque expansion of our prisons, thriving
criminal markets and wholesale erosion of personal freedoms.

Just because a policy appears to be solidly supported by politicians
and bureaucrats doesn't mean that it is either wise or effective. One
has only to remember that slavery enjoyed the same status until the
eve of the Civil War, and segregation wasn't seriously questioned
until after World War II.

Newspapers would also do well to remember that they - along with TV
networks - are part of the media. They should not be too eager to
dismiss this event as trivial.

Tom O'Connell
San Mateo