Article 8

CAN 'TV IMPROVE Us?

B Y J ANE ROSENZWEIG

I t’s eight o’clock Wednesday evening and a Or might he glean from prime-time dramas rumor is circulating at a small-town high and sitcoms the behavior and attitudes that school in Massachusetts that a student named he would do welI to adopt if he intended to Jack is gay Jack’s friends-one of whom is a go native in America? E-year-old girl who has been sexually active This is not an idle question-not because since she was 13, and another of whom has a aliens might be watching American television, mother who has recently committed adul- but because people are, particularly irnpres- tery-assure him it would be okay with them sionable children and teenagers. In a time if he were, but admit their relief when he says when 98 percent of U.S. households own at he isn’t. An hour later, in San Francisco, a least one television set-a set which is turned woman named Julia is being beaten by her on for an average of nearly seven hours a boyfriend. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, a day-the degree to which people learn from young stripper who has given birth out of and emulate the behavior of the characters wedlock learns that her own mother locked they see on TV is an academic cottage indus- her in a basement when she was three years try Some evidence does support the wide- old, an experience that she thinks may explain spread belief that children and teenagers are her inability to love her own child. affected by violence and other antisocial be- A typical evening in America? If a visitor havior in the media. When Dan Quayle made from another planet had turned on the televi- his infamous comments in 1992 about Mur- sion (specifically the WB and Fox networks) phy Brown having a baby out of wedlock, he on the evening of Wednesday, February 10, was merely doing what numerous concerned 1999 with the aim of parents, ethnic groups, religious organiza- learning about our soci- tions, gun-control advocates, and others were ety he would likely already doing-blaming television for encour- have concluded that it aging certain types of behavior. is made up pretty ex- clusively of photogenic But if television contributes to poor behav- young people with ior, might it also be a vehicle for encouraging disintegrating nuclear good behavior? In 1988, Jay Wmsten, a pro- families and liberal atti- fessor at the Harvard School of Public Health tudes about sex. It’s ob- and the director of the school’s Center for viously not an accurate Health Communication, conceived a plan to picture, but what might use television to introduce a new social con- our visitor have learned cept-the “designated driver”-to North from the programs he America. Shows were already dealing with watched? Would all the the topic of drinking, Wmsten reasoned, so sex, violence, and pa- why not add a line of dialogue here and there thology he saw teach about not driving drunk? With the assistance him antisocial behavior? of then-NBC chairman Grant ‘linker, Winsten

Reprinted with permission from The American Prospezf, Issue 45, July/August 1999, pp. 58-63. 0 1999, The Am&n Prapect, 5 Broad St. Boston, h4A 02109. All rights reserved. 8. Can TV Improve Us? met with more than 250 writers, producers, Traffic and Safety Administration have stated and executives over six months, trying to sell that the only way to explain the size of the them on his designated driver idea. decline in drinking-related traffic fatalities is Winsten’s idea worked; the “designated the designated driver campaign. driver” is now common parlance across all Following the success of the Harvard Alco- segments of American society and in 1991 hol Project’s campaign, various other advo- won entry into a Webster’s dictionary for the cacy groups-the majority of them with first time. An evaluation of the campaign in progressive leanings-have begun to work 1994 revealed that the designated driver within the existing structures of the television “message” had aired on 160 prime-time industry in a similar fashion, attempting to in- shows in four seasons and had been the main fluence programming in a positive direction. topic of twenty-five 30-minute or 60-minute In truth, there are limits to the effect any pub- episodes. More important, these airings ap- lic interest group can have on what gets pear to have generated tangible results. In broadcast. Commercial television’s ultimate 1989, the year after the “designated driver” concerns are Nielsen ratings and advertisers. was invented, a Gallup poll found that 67 per- Thus there will always be a hefty quantity of cent of adults had noted its appearance on sex and violence on network television. As Al- network television. What’s more, the cam- fred Schneider, the former vice president of paign seems to have influenced adult behav- policy and standards for ABC, asserts in his ior: polls conducted by the Roper contribution to the forthcoming anthology Organization in 1989 and 1991 found sign& Advocacy Groups and the Television Industry, cantly increasing awareness and use of desig- While [television] can raise the consciousness nated drivers. By 1991, 37 percent of all U.S. of the nation, it should not be considered as adults claimed to have refrained from drink- the major vehicle for social relief or altering ing at least once in order to serve.as a desig- behavior.” But why not?

MAUDEY~ ABORTION Throughout the first decades of television, ad- vocacy groups generally tried to work against television rather than with it. Their strategies for changing “offensive” television content consisted of boycotts, letter-writing campaigns, nated driver, up from 29 percent in 1989. In and protests to the networks Standards and 1991, 52 percent of adults younger than 30 Practices departments. When issue-oriented had served as designated drivers, suggesting comedies and dramas began to proliferate that the campaign was having greatest success during the 1960s and 197Os, groups dedicated with its target audience. specifically to lobbying television began to In 1988 there were 23,626 drunk driving fa- form. In 1973, for example, pressure from Jew- talities. By 1997 the number was 16,189. While ish groups led Bridget Loves Bernie, a CBS the Harvard Alcohol Project acknowledges show that portrayed an interfaith marriage, to that some of this decline is due to new laws, be canceled after a single season. That same stricter anti-drunk driving enforcement, and year a group called the Gay Activist Alliance other factors, it claims that many of the 50,000 staged a sit-in at ABC to complain about por- Lives saved by the end of 1998 were saved be- trayals of gay characters on Marcus We@, cause of the designated driver campaign. (The M.D. In some instances, protesters came from television campaign was only a part of the both sides of the political spectrum. A recur- overall campaign; there were strong commu- ring gay character portrayed by Billy Crystal nity-level and public service components as on ABC’s Soap beginning in the late 1970s was well.) As evidence, the project cites statistics the object of protests by both gay advocacy showing the rapid decline in traffic fatalities groups and the religious right, a situation re- per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in the a prised recently by Ellen on the same network. years during and immediately following the But traditional protest tactics have rarely most intensive period of the designated driver met with more than modest success and have campaign. Officials at the National Highway had little, if any, long-term impact on what

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we see on television. (There are some key ex- remains the model for advocacy and public ceptions: lobbying by Action for Children’s health groups seeking to inject their ideas and Television, for example, a grassroots organi- values into the public consciousness. Winsten zation founded in 1968, was integral to the estimates that there are now at least 150 passage of the Children’s Television Act of groups vying for Hollywood’s attention in 1990, which paved the way for more educa- some form or another. Because there are so tional television.) Robert Pekumy a former many groups competing for influence, it’s writer for Ham Days who is now a professor hard to imagine any one concept having the of communication at Florida State University influence the designated driver did. For ex- has done research showing that boycotts and ample, the Environmental Media Association, protests of television have had little effect. He founded in 1989 to mobilize Hollywood points out that the current boycott of Disney around environmental issues, has not met by Southern Baptists has had negligible im- with the same success, despite backing from pact, and he cites an instance where a boycott industry leaders like Lear and Tom Cruise. It’s of the Fox network’s Married With Children ac- easy to build a show around drunk driving; tually led to an increase in the show’s ratings. itls harder to build a compelling half-hour drama around a hole in the ozone layer, or the importance of recycling. w orking with television, instead of pro- testing against it, has been more effective. After attending meetings of the Washington-based FELICITYS VIRGINITY Population Institute in 1971 and 1972, the pro- ducer Norman Lear was inspired to address But other groups remain optimistic, emulat- population issues. Drawing on technical sug- ing Wmsten’s method of treating television as gestions provided by the Los Angeles branch a potential ally rather than an adversary and of Planned Parenthood, Lear put together a approaching writers and producers likely to two-part storyline for CBS’s Maude, in which be receptive to particular ideas. When writers the 47-year old title character gets an abortion. and producers for the WB network’s critically These controversial episodes, which aired in acclaimed new drama Felicity were working November 1972, were simultaneously hailed on the script for a two-part story about date as groundbreaking by feminist groups and an- rape, they wanted to make sure they got the grily boycotted by a number of Catholic details right. They sought the advice of ex- groups. perts from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a In a foreshadowing of the Murphy Brown nonprofit that focuses on education about controversy, Muude became a political light- health issues; its Program on Entertainment ning rod. Anti-abortion groups cited the Fed- Media and Public Health offers briefings, re- eral Communications Commission’s Fairness search services, and a hotline for script writers Doctrine and demanded equal time, on Muude with health-related questions. “We were really or elsewhere in prime time, for the airing of aware of the message we were sending out,” anti-abortion opinions. Their demands were the show’s executive producer Ed Redlich not met, and just weeks later, in January 1973, told me recently “Given that our audience is Roe u. Wade legalized abortion in all states. teenage girls, we wanted to be correct. At the Eight months later when CBS re-ran the abor- same time we didn’t want it to be an extended tion episodes, the rancor had not subsided. A public service announcement.” As the scripts half-hour comedy had become a battleground went through revisions, the show’s writers sat over America’s values. And whether or not down to discuss date rape with repre- Maude’s decision to have an abortion actually sentatives from Kaiser, who had previously altered anyone’s views on the issue, the con- offered their services to the WB. In whom troversy suggests people had come to see tele- might a young woman confide after being vision as playing a significant role in the raped? What kind of advice might a rape shaping of our social morality counselor provide? What physical tests would the woman undergo? What kind of message A, would the show be sending if the rapist didn’t n fter Maude, advocacy groups saw only use a condom? sporadic results in Hollywood until 1988, Meanwhile, WB network executive Susanne when Jay Wmsten launched his designated Daniels sought input on the Felicity scripts driver campaign, an unqualified success that from Marisa Nightingale at the National Cam- 8. Can TV Improve Us? paign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, an advo- SOCIALLY ENGINEERED BY AN ANGEL cacy group formed in 1995 with the goal of reducing teen pregnancies by one-third by Of course, making television an explicit vehi- the year 2005. Nightingale, the manager of cle for manipulating behavior has its dangers. media programs, spends her days meeting My idea of the good may not be yours; if my with writers and producers to offer statis- ideas have access to the airwaves but yours tics, information on birth control methods, don’t, what I’m doing will seem to you like and suggestions for how to incorporate unwanted social engineering. We can alI agree pregnancy prevention into storylines. “I that minimizing drunk driving is a good can’t knock on every door in the country thing-but not everyone agrees on the mes- and discuss safe sex with teenagers,” she sages we want to be sending to, say, teenage says, “but if Bailey and Sarah on [the Fox girls about abstinence versus condoms, about network’s] Party c$ Five discuss it, that’s the having an abortion, or about whether inter- next best thing.” faith marriages are okay Television’s power to mold viewers’ understanding of the world According to a recent Kaiser Foundation is strong enough that we need to be aware survey 23 percent of teens say they learn that embedding messages about moral values about pregnancy and birth control from tele- or social behavior can have potent effects--for vision and movies. Clearly we should be good or for ill. mindful of what exactly teenagers are watch- For the moment, Hollywood’s liberal tilt ing. On a recent episode of Duzuson’s Creek two (yes, it really has one) makes it likely that the 16-year olds contemplating sex ran into each messages and values it chooses to incorporate other at a drugstore only to discover they into its television programs wiIl be agreeable were standing in front of a condom display, to progressives. But how active a role do we which led to a frank discussion about safe sex. want television to play in the socialization of An episode of Felicity featured the title char- our youth? If advocacy groups can gain access acter researching birth control methods and to Hollywood with messages that seem like learning the proper way of putting on a con- positive additions to existing fare, then dom. Once prepared, Felicity then decided in they may someday be able to do the oppo- the heat of the moment she wasn’t quite ready site-to instill, say, values of a particular re- to have sex. A young woman’s decision to ligion or an intolerant political group through put off having sex is rarely portrayed in television. prime time, but Felicity is a strong charac- ter and her reasoning is probably convinc- Consider the popularity of CBS’s Touched ing to a teenage audience. She may well by an Angel, which has just completed its fifth have more influence on teenage girls than season and has secured a regular place among a public service announcement. (Since then, the top ten Nielsen-rated programs. The show, in the April 21 episode, Felicity did lose her which features angels-not winged creatures, virginity The situation was handled taste- but messengers of God who arrive to help fully; nothing graphic was depicted, but the mortals in times of crisis--has sparked a mini- audience was given to know that it was safe trend in prime time. Along with its spin-off sex.) Promised land and the WB’s 7th Heaven, Touched by an Angel has carved out a new While it is health groups who have had the niche in family hour entertainment: fare that’s most success positioning themselves as re- endorsed by many groups on the religious sources for Hollywood, because the issues right (as well as, to be fair, by people not of they focus on recur most often on E&era tele- the Christian right who are seeking whole- vision, other groups have also had some luck some television entertainment). using the same approach. For example, the 7fh Heaven’s producer Brenda Hampton, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation who created the show for Aaron Spelling’s (GLAAD), which began as a protest organiza- production company (the creative force be- tion, has evolved into a group whose strategy hind such racier fare as Beverly Hills 90210 and is to be a resource for the entertainment in- Melrose Place), emphasizes in interviews that dustry As the group has established a pres- she is not influenced by religious groups and ence in Hollywood, it has begun to that her goal is simply to create entertaining incorporate itself into the development and television. But Martha Williamson, the pro- pre-production planning of a variety of tele- ducer of Touched by an AngeZ, is very outspo- vision shows. ken about her Christianity While Williamson, 1 + LIVING WITH MEDIA

too, emphasizes that she aims primarily to en- Before the show aired, independent re- tertain, the program’s religious message is un- searchers interviewed 400 of the show’s regu- mistakably in the foreground. Williamson lar viewers about their knowledge of options says she is regularly contacted by viewers for preventing unwanted pregnancy even af- who say the show helped them make a deci- ter unprotected sex. In the week after the sion-to get in touch with a long-estranged show aired, 305 more viewers were inter- relative or to stop smoking. viewed. The number of ER viewers who said On its face there’s nothing objectionable they knew about morning-after contraception about this; in fact, it’s probably good. And went up by 17 percent after the episode aired. there’s no evidence that Touched by an Angel The study concluded that up to six million of is actively converting people, or making un- the episode’s 34 million viewers learned about willing Jews or atheists into Christians. Still emergency contraception for the first time the show does proselytize for a set of value; from the show (and 53 percent of ER viewers that some viewers might find alienating or of- say they learn important health care informa- fensive. A more extreme version could be- tion from the show). come Big Brother&h propaganda, beamed Even the limited evidence provided by the into the homes and receptive minds of the ER study suggests the scope of television’s seven-hour-a-day TV watchers. At this point, power to educate and influence. And addi- the most offensive thing about Touched by an tional Kaiser studies suggest that the lobbying Anger is its saccharine writing (even some re- of public health groups advocating safe sex ligious groups have criticized it on these and birth control is not yet having nearly grounds). But it is perhaps telling that a Re- enough of a beneficial effect. While 25 percent publican Congress has awarded Williamson a of teenagers say they have learned “a lot” “Freedom Works Award” for “individuals and about pregnancy and groups who seek the personal reward of birth control from accepting and promoting responsibility with- TV shows and mov- out reliance on or funding from the federal ies, and 40 percent government.” say they have got- ten ideas about how to talk to their boy- W HAT I L&ED ON ER friend or girlfriend about sex from TV Given that writers have to create 22 episodes and movies, 76 per- each season, it’s not surprising that they are cent say that one receptive to outside groups pitching socially reason teens feel redeeming story ideas. Dawson’s Creek pro- comfortable having ducer Paul Stupin estimates he sits down with sex at young ages is that TV shows and mov- three to five advocacy groups at the beginning ies “make it seem normal” to do so. of each season and always finds the meetings Another problem: According to Kaiser useful. The fact that large numbers of writers while 67 percent of ER viewers knew abou; and producers attend briefings sponsored by morning-after contraception when questioned Kaiser, the National Campaign to Prevent immediately following the show, only 50 per- Teen Pregnancy, or Population Communica- cent knew about it when questioned two-and- tions International (which recently sponsored a-half months later. This suggests that the 17 a “Soap Summit”) suggests that others feel the percent who gained new information about same way contraception from the episode may not have The strongest evidence that advocates can retained it. Jay Wmsten says that because new effect change through partnerships with the information fades without repetition, for a television industry comes from the success of single message to take hold the way the the designated driver campaign. While .there designated driver campaign did will re- are as of yet no large-scale studies exploring quire a barrage of appearances on a wide the effects of public health advocacy through range of TV shows, over an extended pe- television, a survey conducted by the Kaiser riod of time. Foundation is enlightening. On April lo,1997 NBC aired an episode of ER focusing 0,’ morning-after contraception, put together The role of advocacy groups as a resource with the help of Kaiser Foundation research. for Hollywood writers and producers is growing, 8. Can TV Improve Us? and it’s worth taking seriously Their ap- rile who relate to their favorite television char- proach-presenting ideas to a creative com- icters as if they knew them. munity that is constantly in need of ideas-is Is television the ideal forum for a culture proving effective. Yes, the messages are di- to define its values? No. As long as television luted to fit sitcom or drama formats. Yes, for remains a profit-driven industry the best we every “good value” that makes its way onto can hope to do-especially those of us who the small screen, a flurry of gunshots on an- have views in common with those who create other network will partly counteract it. And ‘. television content (and fortunately for liberals, ,. yes, when Eme cites Ally McBeal as a factor ..’ we tend to)-is to work within the existing ’ -” in the demise of feminism, it is placing ab- system to make it better. We do need to be surdly disproportionate responsibility on a realistic about the limits of television in pack- television character, and on the creative com- aging messages to fit this format. To turn munity that invented her. Yet if the college Friends into a show about capital punishment women on Felicity practice safe sex, or if a would be ineffective as well as dramatically prime-time parent talks about drugs--or unconvincing; but to encourage the producers adoption, or eating disorders, or the Holo- of Duwson ‘s Creek to portray young people fac- caust-with a child, the message is likely to ing the realistic consequences of adult deci- resonate with an audience comprised of peo- sions just might work