RIVERA DECLARES DRUG WAR LOST

David Bauder can be reached at dbauder"at"ap.org

NEW YORK (AP) -- It's not hard to find NBC's $5 million man, Geraldo Rivera,
on television. You just have to know where to look.

Try the "Today" show, where Rivera's action-packed reports on the Kosovo
Liberation Army first aired this month. But don't try the "NBC Nightly
News," where a Rivera report has never been shown.

Try prime time this Sunday, when Rivera's documentary, "Drug Bust, The
Longest War," airs at 8 p.m. But don't try "Dateline NBC," where Rivera
believes he's not welcome.

Better yet, try cable, where MSNBC repeatedly ran the Kosovo reports.

A year and a half into his lucrative new contract with NBC, the former
syndicated talk-show host still doesn't feel completely accepted at the
Peacock Network. He may get more camera time than anyone else in the
company, but he yearns for the time he doesn't get. It's a strange dynamic.

First, the drug special.

It's the third special report to emerge from Rivera's documentary unit, and
he reaches the pointed conclusion that the decades-long war on drugs was in
large part a waste of money.

"We have lost the war on drugs," he said. "It's like Vietnam. At some point
we've got to say we have lost and no one has had the courage to do that."

Rivera talks to a veteran drug smuggler and a U.S. Customs inspector about
efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country. "Drug Bust" also
examines why addicts who want help have an easier time finding drugs than
treatment.

Since the war on drugs was declared in 1971, it has cost $300 billion of
taxpayer money, and drugs remain readily available, Rivera said.

"A generation of politicians has been corrupted," Rivera said. "This has
been a cancer on the souls of the supplier nations. America is this huge,
voracious vacuum cleaner sucking up all the illicit narcotics the world can
produce."

Unlike news reports, documentaries generally take a clear point of view.
"Drug Bust" is particularly provocative. Rivera's eagerness to say how he
feels -- also shown in his spirited defense of President Clinton during the
impeachment trial -- probably has something to do with the arms-length
relationship he has with some of NBC's old guard.

Rivera doesn't think his opinionated nature is all that unusual in network
news.

"If you don't think the reporters at NBC had opinions during the impeachment
crisis, the vast majority of them in diametric opposition to mine, then I
don't think you were watching," he said.

Since signing his NBC deal in November 1997, Rivera has been rankled at not
having any reports aired on "NBC Nightly News," the network's flagship show
anchored by Tom Brokaw.

In December 1997, Brokaw said of Rivera: "He does what he does, and I do
what I do. There's very little common ground between us. That doesn't mean
he doesn't have the right to do what he does." Brokaw hasn't talked much
about his colleague since then.

Yet Rivera's feelings were hurt anew by the treatment of his Kosovo reports.
He hoped they were good enough for "Nightly" to seek them out.

"The writing is on the wall, the sky and the ground," Rivera said. "It's
just not going to happen. I don't think it will ever happen. If that piece
didn't get on, I don't think they'd use anything. I know that 'Dateline' and
'Nightly' are like the country club in my neighborhood. I'm not allowed in."

The network's only comment: "Each NBC News program makes its own editorial
decisions," said spokeswoman Alex Constantinople. Privately, NBC executives
note that "Dateline NBC" has run Rivera's work in the past.

Rivera said frustration with his situation is partly why he's considering a
daily radio talk show. "The motivation, honestly, was, 'OK, you don't want
me, I know a lot of other people who do,"' he said.

If his role at NBC continues to evolve, Rivera said, he'd be much less
inclined to seek out the radio job.

"I think there's a real need for an aggressive, populist alternative to the
Rush Limbaughs and Oliver Norths of the world," he said. "It's time for
liberals to stop being embarrassed about their political philosophy. Having
said all that, I probably don't have the time to do it."