Pubdate: Wed, 19 Jan 2000
Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Los Angeles Daily News
Address: P.O. Box 4200, Woodland Hills, CA 91365
Contact: http://www.dailynewslosangeles.com/contact/contact.asp
Website: http://www.dailynewslosangeles.com/
Author: Marla Matzer Rose

DRUG CZAR CLARIFIES POLICY ON TV SHOWS

Faced with criticism of its controversial media campaign to put
anti-drug messages on network television shows, White House drug czar
Barry McCaffrey announced Tuesday that his office would not review
scripts or tapes prior to broadcast in the future.

Staunchly defending his program that gave advertising dollars to
networks that included anti-drug themes in shows, McCaffrey's issued
new guidelines late Tuesday, intended to clarify the most
controversial element.

"(Our office) and our contractors will not review program episodes for
pro bono credit until after such program episodes have ai published,"
he said.

The guidelines also include a vow to "keep separate the process of
providing scientific and technical assistance from the process of
providing post-broadcast valuation decisions," and state that it will
remain up to each outlet how to continue to match federal advertising
dollars -- in ad time or programming credit.

Last week, the Internet magazine Salon.com revealed that the Office of
National Drug Control Policy has been offering television networks a
financial incentive to put anti-drug messages in their prime-time shows.

A host of conflicting accounts quickly emerged from top TV executives
about how the drug office's program worked, although there was broad
acknowledgment that the White House saw scripts and tapes prior to
broadcast and that changes it suggested were included in at least two
shows on the WB network.

In 1997 the drug office bought $1 billion worth of ad time, with the
condition that the networks supply an equal amount of time toward
anti-drug messages.

Rather than giving the entire amount in free ad time, the networks
could submit episodes of series -- which included the highly rated
"Home Improvement" and "ER" -- that had anti-drug themes to the drug
office. These shows were then assigned a dollar value by the ONDCP and
its ad agency, based on the programs' ratings and content.

Friday, the White House drug office insisted it had never asked to see
scripts in advance as a condition of granting "pro bono credit."

President Clinton also weighed in on Friday, saying of the ONDCP
program, "There was no attempt to regulate content or tell people what
they had to put into it. Of course, I wouldn't support that."

The drug office insisted it never asked for scripts, but only gave
credit to those shows that were sent voluntarily after completion.
That version of events was contradicted, though, by ABC executive
Patricia Fili-Krushel on Saturday.

She told reporters in Pasadena that the drug office had indeed asked
to see scripts of shows before they were aired as a conditio credit.

McCaffrey's statement overall was billed as a clarification rather
than a change in policy.

It reiterated that the ONDCP considers the program a success that has
generated hundreds of millions of ad impressions on young people and
adults. A spokesman for the drug office could not be reached late
Tuesday for further comment.