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July 27, 1997
"PROTECTING" NEWS CONTENT Reading the L.A. Times the other day... ...I was fascinated -- and more than a little amused -- at the lofty words of one Warren Littlefield, speaking about television content ratings. "NBC, as a company," he was quoted as saying, "is not comfortable having someone decide in government what is garbage and what is not." Now as President of NBC's Entertainment Division headquartered in Burbank, Mr. Littlefield has every right to comment on the recent compromise between most of America's networks and federal lawmakers, led by Arizona Republican John McCain, who are determined to institute a system for labeling TV programs according to the sex, violence, foul language and suggestive dialogue they contain. (NBC has been the last major network to resist the SVL&D plan.) But Mr. Littlefield's attempt to portray himself as a defender of freedom in broadcasting, and his explicit accusation that "It is no longer about a label. It's about controlling content," rings hollow in this reporter's ears. That's because in my 18-month litigation versus NBC management we clearly established Mr. Littlefield's very determined efforts to distort the content of programs produced by the network's news division. His objective was not to maintain quality and freedom of content, but rather to drive up ratings at any cost -- an order he received from the highest echelons of NBC's parent, the General Electric Company. In December of 1993, my attorney Andy Coombs examined Mr. Littlefield under oath; in this pre-trial deposition we were investigating management's policy of imposing Entertainment practices and objectives on to the program "Dateline NBC.": "Did the Entertainment Division suggest story ideas for 'Dateline' ?" Andy asked Mr. Littlefield. In fact, other witnesses testified that Mr. Littlefield told the then President of the New Division, Michael Gartner, that "Dateline" should do a full hour on the Long Island Lolita -- a defining moment in the program's slide towards the tabloid excesses of other TV magazine shows. Other testimony revealed that strong-arming from Mr. Littlefield's promotions executives in Burbank succeeded in shaping editorial policy in News. Entertainment controls air time, they declared: only those news segments that meet Entertainment' ratings objectives would be promoted. Gradually, only those segments that could be promoted were produced. Under GE management, promotions policy became editorial policy. We took testimony about this, too: "Has Bob Wright (NBC's GE-appointed chief executive) ever expressed to you an interest in breaking down the divisions within the NBC corporate structure ?" Andy asked. As we know, Mr. Welch is good at making money. Profit is his highest -- some would say his only -- motive in business. And he has forced that philosophy on NBC News, which is raking in massive profits while weathering widespread criticism for its softer, frequently sleazier program content. Sadly, almost none of those profits are reinvested into genuine newsgathering, especially in world news. In business strategy as well as content, Mr. Littlefield's Entertainment Division, under Bob Wright's direction, has tamed and harnessed the formerly autonomous News Division. This is the context in which we should consider Warren Littlefield and his pronouncements about the need to fend off attempts to control programming content. Mr. Littlefield undoubtedly hungers for freedom -- the freedom to make as much money for GE as is possible, regardless of how content might have to be degraded in the process. |
| Next time... | some brave pockets of resistance to the hyper-commercializing of U.S. network news.
See you then... |