Big Media And The Big Story

At Disney's ABC News, executives say the same is true. "We've been told by [Disney executives] to spend the money we need to spend," says David Westin, president of the news division. Terrorism coverage is swelling costs by millions more than originally budgeted, says Roger Ailes, who runs Fox News, the cable network of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. "But that's the news business," he says. "Rupert understands the news business better than anyone." At CBS News, president Andrew Heyward says the network has heard "not a whimper" from corporate bosses at Viacom about the necessary heavy spending. "We are committed to covering the story well, and won't make any choices that shortchanges the public," he adds. NBC believes its multiple products give it a cost advantage. "We have three networks--NBC, CNBC and MSNBC--over which to spread costs," says Neal Shapiro, president of NBC News.

But does covering the story well also mean cooperating with the government in the interest of national security? AOL's Levin says the sprawling company's Internet division has already helped terror investigators, apparently providing access to e-mail traffic. And he indicates that the company isn't likely to oppose any of the new and controversial anti-terrorism powers being sought by the Justice Department from Congress. "The President has said we are on a wartime footing," Levin says. "There will be a legal check on what the government can do. Appropriate voices will be raised. I'm concerned about safety, security and the psychological health of our people."

Critics of big media are wary of wartime coziness. "I'm not saying that everything is a horrible paranoid fantasy, but my sense is there's an implicit quid pro quo here," says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "The industry seems to be saying to the administration, 'we're patriotic, we're supporting the war, we lost all of this advertising, now free us from constraints.'" Some on Wall Street think the broadcasters helped their parent companies' political agendas with their extensive, costly coverage. They "passed a critical test of their good faith as trustees of the public airwaves," Leland Westerfield, an analyst at UBS Paine Webber, wrote a week after the binge of coverage. "The media emerged with an enhanced public-service reputation... In a consolidating sector that seeks regulatory relief, almost any short-term forfeit of advertising revenue pales in contrast to the benefits of favorable public opinion."

Wartime logrolling at times has been slightly surreal. To defend against future attacks, the Pentagon in the days after the Sept. 11 assault put out a mayday call to filmmakers skilled at imagining potential terrorist acts, including "Die Hard" screenwriter Steven E. De Souza and Joseph Zito, who directed "Delta Force One." The generals asked the creative types to engage in apocalyptic brainstorming of the kind that has yielded acts of cinematic terrorism. The war gaming, presumably, continues.

© 2001