Bartlet4America News Archive

Saunders: Fiction deals with the facts

by Dusty Saunders
Rocky Mountain News

It took C.J. Cregg, a fictional character, to tackle a real broadcasting issue on television.

There has been little, if any, national reporting or commentary on television about the controversial issue of the Federal Communications Commission's desire to loosen media ownership restrictions, which would allow a few major broadcasting organizations to increase domination of the airwaves.

News shows have been rightly accused of ignoring coverage mainly because most of the networks would benefit from such consolidation.

To my knowledge, NBC's Dateline, CBS' 60 Minutes or ABC's Prime Time have not wrestled with the issue in an in-depth style.

But The West Wing joined the battle last Wednesday.

In a secondary plotline, Cregg, President Josiah Bartlet's press secretary (brilliantly played by Allison Janney), was in a major snit over media consolidation and the unwillingness of reporters employed by conglomerates to tackle the issue.

She voiced unhappiness in several legitimate scenes, complaining that the FCC is "posting bail for huge companies that were illegally gobbling up TV stations like greasy hors d'oeuvres."

While the definitive delivery was Janney's, the words and idea came from executive producer John Wells and his able stable of producers and writers, who have kept The West Wing on a high dramatic level after the departure last spring of creator Aaron Sorkin.

Such commentary about the FCC did not go unnoticed within the industry.

Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, told Variety: "It's ironic that an issue that was completely unreported on NBC News is getting more treatment in entertainment."

The organization, based in Washington, D.C., has been extremely critical of media consolidation.

While The West Wing has been less cerebral this season without Sorkin on the premises, the story lines have mostly retained the series' political wit and satire.

Yes, The West Wing also has retained its liberal stance since plots mostly deal with the philosophy (and the wheeling and dealing) of a Democratic president.

And while most conservatives regularly dismiss The West Wing as liberal hogwash, many story lines have outlined the conservative platforms in "equal time" terms.

An example came in an engrossing hour last month, in which Glenn Close portrayed a liberal judge who was named chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Within this dramatic framework, Wells and his crew also introduced an intelligent, likable ultra-conservative lawyer who also ended up on the court.

And the script provided this candidate ample opportunity to fully express his conservative views in positive terms.

Granted, such episodes aren't going to get conservatives to join The West Wing fan club. But if they watched regularly they might agree the series offers much more than what many deride as "liberal drivel."

Politics aside, The West Wing remains one of the few bastions of TV drama where weekly plotlines are not always solved with a surgeon's scalpel, a judge's gavel or a cop's gun.

While audience ratings have diminished during the past two seasons, The West Wing already is scheduled for a sixth season next fall.

This was assured two years ago when Warner Bros., the production company and NBC agreed on a deal, a contract that was a definite plus for fans of The West Wing. In today's reality-happy environment, NBC might have decided the series would not be part of the 2004-05 lineup, despite its appeal to blue-chip advertisers.