NETWORKS, FEDS MADE AGREEMENT

Anti-Drug Message Worked Into Scripts

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- The federal government used financial incentives
to get television networks to work anti-drug messages into the scripts of
some popular TV shows. The White House drug office even got the opportunity
to review scripts before the shows aired.

The arrangement, first disclosed Wednesday by the online news service
Salon.com, raised questions about the independence of networks and their
willingness to let others influence what goes on the air.

Among the shows reviewed by the government were NBC's top-rated ER, CBS's
Chicago Hope and Cosby, ABC's The Drew Carey Show and The Practice, and
Fox's Beverly Hills 90210, according to Salon.com.

The complicated arrangement stemmed from Congress' 1997 approval of a
program to buy anti-drug ads on TV. Networks were asked to match each
commercial spot bought by the government with a free one. Since the program
started, however, commercial time has become more valuable with the rising
demand for ads by Internet companies.

The government has since agreed to give up some of its ad time -- as long
as the networks demonstrate that some of their programs convey anti-drug
messages, said Rich Hamilton, CEO of Zenith Media, the ad buying firm that
helped develop the idea as a go-between for the networks and the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

This freed up advertising time that the networks could then sell to other
clients at steeper prices, Hamilton said. The White House drug office
valued the programming messages it had approved at $22 million.

"I'm fairly amazed that there has been any concern expressed about this,"
Hamilton said. "It has been so above board and clearly voluntary on the
part of everyone involved."

Yet an expert on media ethics said it raises questions about the motives of
the entertainment industry.

"What it can do for the networks is make it seem that they are only going
to run those messages or shows that have prior government approval," said
Aly Colon, a professor at the Poynter Institute.

Networks submitted scripts or tapes of completed shows for the government
drug office's review, said Alan Levitt, director of the national youth
media campaign at the White House drug office. At no time did the office
suggest changes or rewrite the scripts, he said.

"All we said was, if you believe that a certain program that you intend to
broadcast delivers our message -- essentially that drugs can kill you --
submit it to us for an evaluation and we may decide that we can credit you
for a pro bono match," Hamilton said.

Salon.com, quoting an unidentified source, said that in an episode of the
WB's Smart Guy series, two substance-abusing teen-agers were originally
depicted as being popular, but the script was changed after government
review to show them as "losers" hidden away in a utility room taking drugs.

A spokesman for the WB had no comment.

In at least 24 instances over the past few years, networks or producers
have come to the federal drug office for advice on how to portray substance
abuse situations, Levitt said.

For example, producers and writers of ER have frequently contacted the
office. One recent storyline about a youth coming into the emergency room
after having abused alcohol was likely included after the office told
producers that alcohol is the most frequently abused drug among young
people, said Donald Vereen, deputy director of the White House drug policy
office.

"We plead guilty to using every lawful means to saving the lives of
children," said another member of the drug office, Bob Weiner.