White House buys TV's loyalty in 'war on drugs'
By Sean Healy
The United States government pays television networks and magazine publishers to promote its "tough on drugs" stance through popular TV programs such as ER, Beverly Hills 90210 and Chicago Hope and features in magazines such as Seventeen, Parade and US News & World Report, a special investigation by US e-zine Salon (<http://www.salon.com>) has revealed.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), headed by the White House's drug tsar General Barry McCaffrey, paid six US magazines the equivalent of $12 million in 1999 and the five US domestic TV channels the equivalent of $25 million in the past year and a half.
The ONDCP is at the forefront of the US government's "war on drugs", a multi-billion dollar effort which has criminalised those using even small quantities of drugs, unleashed militarised police units on mainly black, inner-city neighbourhoods to devastating, often lethal, effect and caused the country's prison population to surge past the two million mark.
Having failed to stem drug use, the ONDCP now clearly sees advantage in a scaled-up propaganda war, targeted especially at the nation's youth.
Under a 1997 law, the ONDCP is entitled to a "two-for-one" deal on all anti-drug advertising it takes out in magazines or on television. If the office pays for a one minute commercial, the network has to provide it with an additional one minute commercial for free.
With advertising rates climbing in the US, publishers and broadcasters have preferred to offer the ONDCP favourable editorial content rather than half-priced advertising space. Articles and scripts are submitted to the ONDCP's advertising managers for accreditation and, in some cases, re-editing.
Anti-drugs content in the hospital drama Chicago Hope, for example, was valued at more than $500,000, including for an episode in which several young people were killed, raped, had psychotic episodes, suffered a car crash, broke their noses or missed a flight on the space shuttle — all after taking drugs at a rave party.
Beverly Hills 90210 earned between $500,000 and $750,000 for its owner, Rupert Murdoch's News Limited, after it featured approved storylines, including a two-part episode in which one of its main characters suffered a spiral into drug addiction.
The magazine Seventeen, the largest-selling US magazine for teenage women, earned itself $144,000 for approved content, including a feature in its January 1999 issue about an imprisoned teenage drug dealer. The woman was described by the magazine as "a pretty 17-year-old girl, scared, alone and sitting in prison. Sitting with killers, rapists and lunatics ... Just left with the reality that drugs put her here, and now she's stuck".
The young woman was sentenced to a 10-year term for possession, distribution and car theft — the only quantity of drugs mentioned was the quarter-gram of methamphetamine discovered at her home. The US's largest-circulation magazine, Parade, won itself $1.85 million, in part due to a cover story on McCaffrey, pictured surrounded by children and US flags.
Other TV programs benefiting from ONDCP largesse, according to Salon, included Cosby, The Drew Carey Show, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Practice.
Publishers and broadcasters were unrepentant about their cashed-up "editorial support" for the ONDCP, rejecting claims that accepting money for content was a breach of ethics. A spokesperson for the CBS network told Salon, "CBS is proud to be working with the government in regard to the war on drugs".