The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 12

12 THE BOSTON GLORE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1,1993 US, EC viewed at odds over monitoring of aid to Mideast By Mary Curtius GLOBE STAFF ft "Ms i 0- ft -rA: Xi uy fX briefed reporters on the Conference to Support Middle East Peace yesterday would not address reports of the dispute with the EC, although they acknowledged that no mechanism for monitoring aid distribution has yet been established. The officials preferred to emphasize the positive, citing the fact that 45 nations and several multinational financial institutions have agreed to attend the conference. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, speaking to reporters in New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly yesterday, expressed confidence that donor nations will give more money than the World Bank has estimated it will cost to revitalize the occupied territories after Israel's military withdrawal. "We think that well probably exceed the $2 billion mark over the next five years, which was the estimate of the World Bank," Christopher said. Christopher based his remarks on an earlier estimate the World Bank made that it would take $3 billion of public investment in the next 10 years to rebuild the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

But yesterday, the World Bank president, Lewis Preston, said that the institution has revised its estimate. Preston said it will take $500 mil- president of Trans-Atlantic Futures, a European-oriented consulting firm. "And they believe that now the US is trying to take it away from them. The administration initially said it would contribute $250 million over two years to help the Palestinians start rebuilding their infrastructure. The EC pledged $600 million, then claimed the right to control the aid program by virtue of the fact that it was offering the single largest aid package.

Japan has pledged $200 million over two years. Scandinavian countries are expected to pledge at least $150 million, and Israel is planning to pledge $25 million. Diplomatic sources said yesterday that the United States has decided it must up its pledge if it is to reassert its leadership credentials. So Vice President Al Gore plans to pledge at least $500 million, and possibly more, when he opens the conference at the State Department this morning. The administration has said it plans to fund the aid package, initially, by taking money from aid programs to other nations that Congress just approved in its fiscal 1994 foreign aid authorization.

It is unclear where the money will come from for the next four years, or whether it will consist of both grants and loan guarantees. Administration officials who WASHINGTON The Clinton administration is arguing with the European Community over how beat to monitor the distribution of aid to West Bank and Gaza Palestinians, even before an expected $2 billion in pledges is made at a conference here today. The dispute reflects anxiety that donors feel as they contemplate giving huge amounts of aid to the Palestine Liberation Organization a group that is far more experienced in launching paramilitary operations than in laying sewers. But the argument also exposes political and economic rivalries between the EC and the United States as the allies begin to manuever for position in the new Middle East that may emerge from settling the Arab-Israeli conflict. Administration officials refuse to talk about the dispute, but European diplomats and analysts confirmed that the EC believes it should be in charge of monitoring aid distribution, rather than the United States.

"The EC argues that economics is the only comer of the seat at the Middle East peace process that the US has been willing to give to the Europeans," said Stephan Richter, RturtRS PHO'O US Secretary of State Warren Christopher hosts a meeting with Arab foreign ministers. From left: Sallm bin Mohammed Khussalby, Oman's envoy to the UN; Foreign Ministers Abdellatlf Fllall of Morocco, Hablb Ben Yahla of Tunisia; Christopher; Amre Moussa of Egypt; and Prince Saud Faisal of Saudi Arabia, to prosperity. But the United States and its European allies also see this aid program as a chance to assert political leadership in the region and to get in on the ground floor if Israel and its Arab neighbors are going to start having trade relations and jointly developing a region plagued by wars and mutual suspicions. That is why the question of who controls the distribution of the funds has become so sensitive. The Clinton administration, with its emphasis on the economic aspect of foreign policy, is not about to give ground to the Europeans in the Middle East Diplomatic sources say the United States has proposed creating a steering committee, with a representative of the United States, the European Community, Japan and the Arab states, consulted by the Israelis and the PLO, overseeing the distribution of aid and helping to avoid waste and duplication.

lion to $550 million a year over the next five years to get the Palestinians back on their feet The World Bank is expected to make a presentation at today's conference, which will be closed to the press and public. The United States has joined Israel and the PLO in arguing that a massive, quick infusion of aid to the territories is necessary to show both the 1.7 million Palestinian residents and the residents of Arab states surrounding Israel that peace can lead Boston stations fight for 10 p.m. news viewer WSBK Channel 38 WLVI Channel 56 The Ten O'Clock News' Program yet to be named WFXT Channel 25 'Fox 25 News at lO Length: Half hour PCjX First aired: Sept 7 rrr Lengm: riau now 5 v5 First aired: To begin the week 01 UCL ZO tapMHB liens iuituui. ncauici xvaiiii wmA Sports: Mike Adams pw Weather. Tim Kelley Length: Hour First aired: Spring 1984 News anchors: Jon Du Pre and Karen Marinella Sports: Mike Barkann Weather Mike Wankum Produced by.

WLVI-TV Ch. 56 Mission: "We think of ourselves V7A WLVI Produced by: New England Cable News News anchors: Scheduled to be Randy Price and Uma Pemmaraju Sports: Bob Lobel Weather Bruce Schwoegler Produced by. WBZ-TV Channel 4 Mission: "It'll be somewhere in between Fox and 56," says Jeff Bartlett, Channel 4 news director. "If something deserves more in-depth coverage itll get it. It won't be rapid-fire crime and grime." Mission: Staccato-paced headline news.

"It's Foxified," says Fox 25 program director Jim Byrne. "Much faster paced" than the competition and "doesn't get into real detail about as the late news broadcast of says Peter Temple, 56's president and manager. "We have the hour to be more and do more stories." mm jt I m- ft A f- A J) mm. ii Randy Price lima Pemmaraju Heather Kahn Jon Du Pre Karen Marinella NEWS Continued from Page 1 "Lifestyles have changed and the No. 1 reason people don't watch news at 11 o'clock is because they've gone to bed," said Jeff Bartlett, WBZ (Ch.

4) news director. The competition pits flashy Fox-affiliate WFXT (Ch. 25) against steady old WLVI (Ch. 56) and a program from WSBK (Ch. 38) -scheduled to debut the week of Oct.

25 in a new era where Boston stations face eroding audiences at 11 and move to catch other major American cities where the 10 p.m. news slot is far more popular than it has ever been here. Overall, in fart, during the past nine years in Boston, viewership of 11 o'clock news programs has declined 10 percent "I think it's reflective of changes in American lifestyles that not just in Boston but all across the country we see people with busier lifestyles, getting up earlier and going to bed earlier, finding 10 o'clock a time period of greater convenience," said Eric Braun, an official at the television consulting firm Frank N. Magid and Associates, based in Marion, Iowa. "The industry is responding to what is an on-demand culture.

You want it fast and you want it hot and you want it at a drive-up window. You want your photos in an hour and you want your local news when you want if On an average night during the past year or so, 100,000 people turned on a 10 o'clock newscast in Boston. But industry officials say the new competition could push that number to 300,000, perhaps even half a million. Peter Temple, president and general manager at Channel 56, said that in New York 15 percent of TV viewers at 10 o'clock are watching news. In Boston it's only 7 percent And unlike the competition for news at 6 and 11, where Boston stations have offered similar fare, the 10 o'clock slot will offer markedly different broadcast styles.

Adding a bit of spice to the battle are programs that will be the products of partnerships as interesting as they are unlikely. While Channel 56 produces the news it airs each night the two new challengers are programs produced by one station, aired on another. The Channel 25 broadcast, which debuted in September, is produced by the New England Cable News, which also produces news and public affairs that air over its own channel. And the Channel 38 news program will be produced entirely by Channel 4. At the heart of this competition, as is the case in any TV battle, is money.

News programs are exceptionally profitable and the newcomers want a share of the estimated $80 million a year advertisers spend on them in Boston. "Commercials in news programs are more valuable than commercials almost anywhere else in a local television station," said Al Primo, a television consultant based in Connecti- Ch. 4 news on Ch. 38 prompts talk of conflict onWPDQV Jeff Bartlett, WBZ news director, says that in fact there could be times when he sits on news, running it only on the Channel 4 program at 11. "If it's the kind of story that if the competition sees it at 10 o'clock and they could take it and turn it around for the 1 1 newscast at their station, then we would probably hold it," Bartlett says.

"If all of a sudden we find out Boston mayoral candidate Thomas Menino's dropping out of the race and the other guys could make calls, we may hold that for 11 so as not to tip off the competition." CHARLES KENNEY Is there an inherent conflict of interest in the unusual partnership in which Channel 4's news depart-. ment will produce a news program that will air over Channel 38? S. James Coppersmith, president and general manager of WCVB (Ch. 5), thinks so. "If you're doing the news for Channel 157, and it's five minutes of 10 and you're working on a breaking story, do you want to break it on somebody else's station or your own? "Why should I care whether the news I produce for Channel 157 works or not? I don't want my people sitting there saying, 'Wow, what a good show we did news-oriented people that the 10 o'clock news programs would dearly i- i.

know news but they don't want the in-depth story if you will," said Gerald R. Walsh, president and general manager of the station. "It's almost like USA Today. It's going to fit a need." A recent night's viewing shows the program to be the journalistic equivalent of a jackhammer, a staccato pace that opened with a gruesome recounting of the murder of a tourist in Florida, with not one, but five shots of blood on the ground. From real to imagined gore, the show moved to violent video games for kids, then to Michael Jackson, state government, NAFTA, Arafat, Rabin, a plane crash, vaccines, energy prices.

To the weatherman who reads aloud from the Old Farmer's Almanac that women "initiate two-thirds of all sexual encounters." And to a Billy Joel show at the Garden. A unique situation faced by Channel 38 is its commitment to broadcasting the Bruins and Red Sox, whose games sometimes run past 10 o'clock. Daniel J. Berkery, president and general manager of Channel 38, said the station will be flexible with its news and run the broadcast after late games, though the deal prevents 38 from broadcasting its news when WBZ airs its 11 p.m. newscast.

About the Red Sox and Bruins schedules, Berkery said, "We don't see it as a problem, we see it as a tremendous plus in that the audience from the sporting event will at least sample that news." In addition to accommodating cut. "It's a more upscale audience paying attention to the program as opposed to it being background music." "Obviously a station that doesn't have local news is not able to tap into advertising for news," said Temple of Channel 56. "There are dollars spent exclusively in news programs." The stakes are high for all the competitors. Channel 4 is in the most delicate position. In a daring gamble, WBZ will produce a newscast using some of its top talent, including sportscast-er Bob Lobel, and air that program one hour before its 11 p.m.

news on Channel 38. The risk is obvious: If you can get WBZ's news at 10, why stay up till 11? Bartlett believes the Channel 4 show on Channel 38 will not siphon viewers from the station's 11 p.m. news, but rather will attract viewers who do not now watch a news program before going to bed. He acknowledges that it is a "calculated risk," but added that when a station did the same thing in Indianapolis, its total news audience for the night doubled. Even officials at channels 25 and 56 welcome, in a way, WBZ's entry into the contest because "it helps legitimize the 10 o'clock news business," said Temple of Channel 66.

"It adds a whole new halo to the 10 o'clock news business." If WBZ adds a halo, WFXT adds a whole new style to news in Boston. "This generation has a desire to love uj uurauu S. James Coppersmith, president and general manager of WCVB (Ch. 5), said it will be difficult for the local programs ui ume uu (jrugiama wiui "a $45 million budget with Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson." will not be "rapid fire crime and grime," a la Channel 25. At Channel 56, "We're trying to be the late news of substance," said Temple.

"You can't get anywhere near as much news, or as much depth on stories, in a half hour as you can in an hour." As they try to elbow their way into viewers' homes, these broadcasts compete not only with one another but also with four popular network news-magazine programs. The 10 o'clock news programs will face "Dateline NBC" on Tuesday, CBS' "48 Hours" on Wednesday, ABC's "Prime Time Live" on Thursday, and ABC's "2020" on Friday. These programs draw large audiences, an average of 300,000 viewers, said Adrienne Lotoski, research director at Channel 5. And many of those viewers are precisely the the station's sports schedules, Berkery said, WSBK will also have to edit the many movies it shows down to two hours, including commercial breaks. "Heretofore, we- didn't like to edit he said.

But since the station's movies air at 8 p.m., they will now have to make way for the news at 10. The partnership came about, said Berkery, because Channel 38 wanted a news program but did not want to invest the $3 million to $4 million it would cost to start its own. It is a union, Berkery said, that gives the station the best of both worlds: A news presence along with news revenues, and a program produced by an old-line news station with a large," loyal following. Stylistically, Bartlett said he expects his program to be "somewhere in between Fox and 56." He, said it While it is in Coppersmith's interest to dismiss the programs, those entering the 10 o'clock competition think the presence of three local news shows will swell the audience for news at that time. Says Charles Kravetz, station manager and news director at New England Cable News, "The fact that there will be three is probably going to raise all the boas in the harbor.".