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.