Raised Eyebrows

With solemn assurance from the Justice Department that they would not be violating antitrust laws, the presidents of the three television networks met in secret conclave last week. Topic of discussion: FCC Chairman John Doerfer's "suggestion" that the networks take turns every week presenting a half hour of informational, cultural and educational programs daily, Mondays through Fridays (total: 2 1/2 hours a week).

In Washington vernacular, wrote New York Times TV Critic Jack Gould, Doerfer's "suggestion" fell "into the category of regulation by the raised eyebrow." By even entertaining the proposal, wrote Gould, "the networks have sat down for the first fitting of a straitjacket. They are confessing that they lack the gumption, economic resourcefulness and pride to lick their public-service problem individually, and that they need the weight of Uncle Sam to spell out specific and statistical criteria of civilized behavior."

But the networks were convinced that this was no time to talk back to the FCC. To balance Doerfer's inadequate suggestion, they offered an almost equally inadequate proposition of their own. Every week, the networks promised, each of them would devote at least one hour of evening time to public-service shows. Thus, while guaranteeing the public half an hour more of culture each week than Doerfer called for, they were maintaining their freedom to relegate some of it to the Sunday "culture ghetto."

Puzzled by the politics of this sort of programing, many a listener wondered why the networks had not simply informed Doerfer that their schedules already include more ambitious shows than he was asking for, e.g., NBC's World Wide 60, CBS Reports. Even ABC, lagging far behind, could boast of The Churchill Memoirs. Viewers agreed with Critic Gould that "the notion that a trustee of the public airways is deserving of applause because he reserves for the public weal a total of 2 1/2 hours out of every three weeks borders on the incredible."

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