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Controversial White House Deal Criticized as 'Mind Control' NEW YORK (APBnews.com) -- In between sports scores and game highlights, ESPN is presenting a new feature on its popular SportsCenter news show: anti-drug messages.
In an effort to save millions-of-dollars in advertising time, the nation's leading cable sports network has offered to have content from SportsCenter and a number of its other shows classified as anti-drug messages, APBnews.com has learned through documents obtained from the government through the Freedom of Information Act.
The arrangement is part of a controversial $175 million a year anti-drug campaign created by U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
The original idea was that the networks would give an equal amount of free airtime to the ONDCP for each public service announcement it purchased. The plan has since evolved into an incentive program in which the networks can insert anti-drug messages into shows instead of giving away valuable advertising time. This time can instead be sold to commercial advertisers.
In addition to concern that Washington was rewriting Hollywood scripts -- for which there is no hard evidence -- the lack of publicity surrounding the program gave critics the impression that there was a secret White House agenda.
'This is not propaganda'
All the major networks -- ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and WB -- have taken part in the ONDCP program, but the shows in question have generally been fictional in nature. ESPN's programming, by contrast, is fact-based, including sports highlights, features and hard news reports, such as the murder charges against NFL players Rae Carruth and Ray Lewis.
ESPN's director of corporate communications, M.C. Antil, denied that the deal has compromised the credibility of the news reports.
"This did not affect our coverage at all. This is not propaganda. ... These were news items that were run in the course of normal business. ... There was no compromise. There was no quid pro quo," Antil said, declining further comment.
In addition to its signature sports news show, SportsCenter, ESPN programs that carried content classified as anti-drug messages included Outside the Lines, Monday Night Countdown, SportsWeekly, SportsCentury and Upclose. Such content also was carried on sister network ESPNews.
Among the segments approved for anti-drug credit, according to the records, were segments on baseball player Darryl Strawberry and football player Mark Tuinei; Strawberry was suspended for drug use, and Tuinei died of a drug overdose.
Calls placed to ESPN's news and advertising directors were not returned by press time.
Hard news vs. sports news
A spokesman for the ONDCP said the arrangement had not compromised ESPN's coverage, but he declined to characterize the shows as news.
"I think you've got to differentiate between hard news and sports news of this sort," said Rob Housman, the ONDCP's assistant director for strategic planning, describing one ESPN feature that focused on the travails of several athletes' battles with drug abuse.
"This wasn't like an effort to manipulate the news," he said. "We had no hand in the content. The facts were the facts; ESPN presented the facts."
The piece was effective from an ONDCP standpoint, Housman said. "It just so happens there is a very strong message to youth" in those shows, he said.
Since the story was first reported, it has generated a firestorm of bad publicity for the ONDCP, with critics calling the campaign "mind control." A congressional hearing was held earlier this year to debate whether McCaffrey's office "crossed any lines in getting to its desired objective," as Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., put it.
A script-vetting process
The ONDCP memos describe a detailed system by which the government would screen scripts for social messages. One document that appears to have been produced as part of a presentation describes the "Process for Program Content Vetting" this way:
Housman defended the process.
"That doesn't read 'content manipulation,'" he said. "What we provided was a fact-check. ... Programs lose their credibility if perhaps they show a heroin addict turning green from taking the drug." Heroin, of course, does not make skin turn green.
Another memo provides a status report on all the television shows that the ONDCP looked at with the words "approved" or "not approved" in a column, indicating whether the shows' scripts were acceptable to be counted as paid advertising time matches.
The list is extensive. Shows that were approved included: Moesha, Saved by the Bell, ER, and Law and Order. Listed as not approved were Buffy the Vampire Slayer (for a show titled "Beer Bad") and Beverly Hills 90210. The ONDCP also disapproved of some fact-based programs' content, such as A&E's Investigative Reports and History's Mysteries.
Housman confirmed to APBnews.com: "We did in fact look at scripts for their factual content."
ABC exceeds its fulfillment
The other issue that becomes clear is how much some networks liked being able to pass off anti-drug program content in lieu of retaining valuable airtime for advertising.
"We are pleased to let you know ESPN has overdelivered the match for the year!" wrote Laurie Greenberg, ESPN's vice president of advertising sales, Eastern region, in a memo dated July 19, 1999. Greenberg did not return phone calls.
ABC was even more enthusiastic. Much of the ONDCP file -- which contains thousands of pages forming a pile about 2-feet thick -- is made up of memos from ABC detailing exactly how it fulfilled its matching requirements with approved programming.
For instance, a report dated Nov. 9, 1999, states that between July and September 1999, ABC provided $46 million in paid advertising time for the ONDCP, $41 million in free matching ads, and another $108 million in anti-drug programming content -- far more than it needed to do.
Soaps and booze: 'Passion ignites'
In addition, ABC breathlessly summarized various plot points from shows it thought were particularly good for the cause.
"This report also details a continuing storyline on All My Children dealing with Hayley's ongoing battle with alcoholism and her interaction with friends and associates. This battle began for Hayley on the June 1 episode and continued over the course of 14 episodes through mid August," the same report reads.
For soap buffs, ABC provided a blow-by-blow account to the ONDCP of the Hayley storyline, such as this for the May 8, 1999, episode: "Ryan fights his attraction and vows to support Hayley's ongoing struggle to remain clean and sober. Grateful, Hayley kisses him and passion ignites."
Alex Wallau, ABC's president of network administration and operations, defended the practice of having the ONDCP review scripts after the airing of shows. But, according to his testimony in Congress, he drew the line at offering advance screening.
"In May of last year," Wallau said, "the ONDCP had stated at the meeting that, in order for programming to qualify for the match, a script had to be submitted in advance. We told him we would not do that."
On Jan. 18, the ONDCP announced that it had established new guidelines that would allow scripts to be screened only after the shows had aired.
ONDCP learns a lesson
The anti-drug campaign is continuing, and approved TV shows still count in lieu of ads. But the ONDCP is being more cautious about how it does its business.
Housman said, "We do need to be more careful to avoid even the appearance of dealing with content. ... That's why we've changed the guidelines."
"We will not review a program until it has appeared. Therefore there is no way that we can be seen as having any kind of quid pro quo between content and match," he said.
Was there any desire to exercise big brother control over TV scripts? Housman describes himself as a "bureaucrat," not a scriptwriter: "We're not that sophisticated."
Jim Edwards is
APBnews.com's celebrity news editor
(jim.edwards@apbnews.com).
This is something new! Simple incompetence never stopped them before.
How much more of our liberty will we surrender, before we end the insanely destructive War on Drugs?
Housman said, "We do need to be more careful to avoid even the appearance of dealing with content. ... That's why we've changed the guidelines."
"We will not review a program until it has appeared. Therefore there is no way that we can be seen as having any kind of quid pro quo between content and match," he said.
IOW, rather than us asking the writers to change script material which may be objectionable, we'll pressure the producers to do it for us. That way, the producers will adopt a harder line for fear of losing ad dollars than we would be able to demand directly.
The change in policy is not an improvement for freedom.
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