WHITE HOUSE GETS ITS ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE INTO ER

The White House has been offering financial incentives to US television
networks that weave an anti-drugs message into the scripts of popular
programmes - a little-known collaboration that has prompted accusations of
"prime-time propaganda" from media watchdogs.

Under the arrangement, first disclosed by the online news service
Salon.com, federal officials reviewed the scripts of about two dozen shows,
including ER, Beverly Hills 90210 and Cosby, and offered suggestions on
plots in which characters suffer the dire consequences of drug abuse.

In return, networks are given credit to reduce the public service
announcements required by law, freeing up millions of dollars-worth of
advertising time that can be sold.

The networks insisted that they had not surrendered control of programme
content to the Government, but some executives conceded that they had
sought anti-drug plotlines that would satisfy the White House.

"This is the most craven thing I've ever heard of," Andrew Schwartzman of
the Media Access Project said. "To turn over content control to the federal
Government for a modest price is an outrageous abandonment of the First
Amendment."

The behind-the-scenes deal has also angered television executives who were
in the dark. They said that it would undermine the credibility of such
messages, which would now be seen as motivated by financial rather than
moral considerations.

The arrangement grew out of the approval by Congress of a 1997 plan to buy
anti-drugs advertising on television. Networks were asked to contribute a
free advertisement for every government purchased slot. With the booming
demand for TV advertising, the Government then agreed to free space on
condition that networks demonstrated the desired drugs stance in
programmes.

Alan Levitt, director of the national youth media campaign at the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said that television scripts
and tapes were submitted and vetted "to see if they're 'on strategy' or
not". In exchange, over the past two years, the networks were freed from
their obligation to provide some $22 million (pounds 13.6 million ) in
public service advertising.

"What it can do is to make it seem that networks are only going to run
those messages or shows that have prior government approval. That may not
be the reality, but at least it can become the perception," Professor Aly
Colon of the Poynter Institute said.

The White House drug office was unrepentant yesterday, insisting that the
deal had been above board and voluntary. "We plead guilty to using every
lawful means of saving the lives of children," a spokesman said.