ABC Plans to Launch Anti-Drug Campaign

ABC announced a monthlong anti-drug initiative Wednesday that will culminate March 30 in a televised town hall meeting containing a “period of silence,” during which parents will be encouraged to talk to their children about drug use.

Meeting with reporters in Pasadena, network executives also reiterated their commitment to children’s programming by announcing three new projects for next fall’s Saturday morning lineup. The shows are designed in part to comply with Federal Communications Commission guidelines mandating three hours a week of educational children’s fare.

The March Against Drugs campaign, staged with Partnership for a Drug-Free America, will include public-service announcements during every hour of network programming through the month of March. Certain prime-time shows and the daytime soap “General Hospital” will incorporate drug-related story lines, and a series of reports will run on ABC News programs. The concluding town hall meeting will be broadcast in prime time.

The network is also encouraging local affiliates to tie into the drug-battling campaign, which ABC Television Network President David Westin estimated can potentially reach more than 140 million Americans a week.

“There has never been anything close to that in media weight put against anything,” Westin said, referring to the on-air advertising.

James E. Burke, chairman of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, cited statistics showing that the vast majority of adult drug abusers began as teenagers and that children are less apt to use drugs if parents discuss the issue with them.

Burke added that he has also talked to Fox--with its high percentage of young viewers--about marshaling an anti-drug program, but noted that there was nothing to announce yet.

Westin acknowledged that there may be competitive benefits for ABC in the campaign, which will feature network personalities in the public-service spots. With people possessing more and more viewing options thanks to cable, networks must try to “establish and strengthen our connection with viewers” through programming that somehow touches their lives, he said.

In addition, the networks are doubtless seeking to generate attention for pro-social actions they take in light of criticism heaped on the TV industry, especially through the process of establishing the content ratings system that began to appear earlier this month.

ABC sees similar value in maintaining a strong children’s programming presence--fueled, Westin conceded, both by the recently enacted FCC rule and corporate parent Disney’s interest and track record in that market.

Although networks usually don’t unveil their new children’s lineups until February or March, when selling ad time for the next season begins, ABC announced three new animated shows, all produced by Disney: “Pepper Ann,” about a seventh-grade girl; “Disney’s Recess,” focusing on a school playground; and “Disney’s 101 Dalmatians,” picking up where the live-action version left off, with the dogs living on a farm.

ABC is holding fast on the children’s front at a time when NBC and CBS have reduced their volume of children’s programs, with the latter to offer a Saturday morning news program next fall, as NBC does with the “Today” show.

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The major networks have found it difficult to compete with rivals such as Fox, the WB Network and Nickelodeon, all of which air children’s shows in the afternoon Monday through Friday that they can use to promote their Saturday morning fare.

“For a broadcaster who only has one kid-only day-part, the marketing challenge is profound,” said Disney/ABC Cable Networks President Geraldine Laybourne, the former head of Nickelodeon, who is overseeing ABC’s children’s programming.

Laybourne also acknowledged that ABC is developing a new cable channel, ABZ, which would rival Nickelodeon. The venture is too preliminary to discuss, she said, though the service will target “kids from 2 to 20.”

On a separate front, Westin said that “it would be a pity” if two recent jury judgments against ABC News--a $10-million libel verdict involving the magazine show “20/20,” and Food Lion’s victory in a case regarding hidden-camera reports on “PrimeTime Live”--discouraged broadcast journalists from pursuing such investigations.

Westin added that while the two judgments have garnered considerable attention, the techniques used--as opposed to the truth of those reports--is what’s been called into question, and broadcasters still successfully defend most claims against them. A North Carolina jury is still deciding whether to award punitive damages in the Food Lion case, which showed spoiled meat being sold at the supermarket chain.

“To give it some perspective, we continue to win far more than we lose,” Westin said.