ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

TELEVISION

ABC, NPR, CNN Get Peabody Awards

In a year marked by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the 61st annual Peabody Awards recognized the coverage of ABC News and National Pubic Radio for its more than 180 hours of related programming. The NBC news series “Third Watch: In Their Own Words, “ a John Wells production in which police, fire and medical professionals recounted personal experiences, was also singled out.

CNN and Channel 4 International received an award for two documentaries, “Beneath the Veil” and “Unholy War.” Produced by Saira Shah, they focused on the terror and violence in the lives of Afghan women. Also honored by the Peabody board: “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” a star-studded fund-raiser produced by Joel Gallen that was simulcast by more than 30 broadcast and cable networks.

ABC’s “Nightline” was singled out with an award acknowledging more than 20 years of long-form news presentation. Other institutional awards went to Boston’s WGBH, a mainstay of pubic broadcasting, and to Youth Radio, a Bay Area organization instructing teens on radio production techniques.

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Study Shows Gender, Political Bias in News

The media watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) released a study Tuesday showing that the sources interviewed on ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts in 2001 were 92% white and 85% male.

In cases where party affiliation was identifiable, the study found sources were 75% Republican--although with Bush administration officials out of the mix, the remaining partisan sources were almost equally balanced. Indeed, President Bush alone accounted for 9% of the totals, which varied relatively little by network. The results also became more heavily Republican after the Sept. 11 attacks, reflecting the newscasts’ focus on government activities.

An ABC News spokeswoman called the study unfair because the networks have no choice in the race, gender or politics of those who make news. The network already has an initiative to put on more experts that accurately reflect the diversity of the country, she added. CBS and NBC declined to comment.

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THE ARTS

Summit Addresses Troubled Ballet Scene

Leading ballet troupes such as the San Francisco Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada and the Stuttgart Ballet huddled in Toronto over the weekend, discussing the fate of their beleaguered art.

According to Toronto’s National Post, attendees acknowledged that the “Ballet Boom” of 25 years ago is a relic of the past . Without glamorous superstar Soviet defectors such as Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova, audiences are shrinking. Many of the big companies, especially in North America, find it hard to compete in a crowded entertainment market. And the economics of financially strapped troupes make it almost impossible to take the kind of artistic risks needed to keep the art form vibrant.

“Frankly, it amazes me that anyone would want the job of artistic director of a big ballet company,” Grant Strate, first resident choreographer of the National Ballet of Canada, said in his keynote address. “It makes so many demands beyond the artistic. It’s an almost impossible job. It’s like being a corporate CEO but without the stock options and the company car.”

In a statement released Monday, the artistic directors mapped out their goals: combating inaccurate stereotypes of ballet as “conservative, frivolous and elitist” through outreach programs, programming choices and presence on TV and the Web; speaking to culturally diverse audiences by means of new works and new technologies; and bridging the gap between North American and European aesthetic standards by bringing the best works and companies of one to the other.

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QUICK TAKES

The four surviving members of the Grateful Dead will reunite for their first shows in seven years, Aug. 3 and 4 at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, Wis. Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, billed as the Other Ones, will headline a two-day celebration of the Dead called Terrapin Station.... In a new spin on corporate synergy, KCAL Channel 9 on Monday launched a new advertising campaign touting its new sister station KCBS Channel 2--also owned by Viacom. Promos for KCBS newscasts and anchors appeared during KCAL’s airing of Monday’s Lakers-Kings game.... Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow (“Shakespeare in Love”) will play American poet Sylvia Plath in a feature film from Focus, a new specialty division of Universal Pictures. The picture will explore the turbulent relationship between Plath, who committed suicide in 1963, and her poet-husband , the late Ted Hughes.... Julianne Moore will receive the actor award at the 2002 Gotham Awards, given out by the Independent Feature Project, on Sept. 26. The honors are given to a New York actor who has made a significant contribution to the city’s film community.... U2 will follow up its Grammy-winning “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” album with a new studio effort slated for fall release. The band is planning to promote the new disc with a CBS prime-time broadcast of a concert at Slane Castle in its native Ireland.... HBO will show an episode on June 23 of its sports comedy “Arliss” featuring a cameo by veteran newscaster Jerry Dunphy, who died Monday. The episode, it says, will be dedicated to him.