Critical of Division’s Affluence : ABC News Suspends Producer Over Article

ABC News President Roone Arledge, angered by an unpublished article written by “20/20” executive producer Av Westin that criticized ABC News operations, Thursday relieved him of all duties “indefinitely.”

The unusual action was announced shortly after an hourlong meeting between Arledge and the veteran news executive, who in addition to the 20/20 series also oversees ABC’s “Our World” series and is the news division’s vice president for program development.

“There will be ongoing discussions between Arledge and Westin in the future,” said an ABC spokeswoman, who added that Westin will continue to be paid during his suspension.

Neither Arledge nor Westin, with ABC News since March, 1969, was available for comment. Westin, 57, an Emmy-winning executive who began his career at CBS News, was said to be finishing work at 20/20, which Thursday night aired a special report on the Tower Commission findings about the Iran- contra s affair .

Westin’s suspension startled many within ABC News, although some had noted that Arledge earlier had sharply rebuked Westin for jumping the chain of command and sending his article to top ABC management.

Earlier Thursday, Westin had said he thought the tempest caused by his article--18 typewritten pages he originally intended to offer “Channels,” a TV-industry magazine--was over.

“I assume so,” the producer said when asked if there now is peace between him and Arledge following a clear-the-air meeting they had earlier this week to discuss Westin’s actions.

Westin, who some at ABC News say wants to be the division’s president, said then that he doubted Arledge wanted to continue the dispute and that “I’m not interested in fighting him.”

Westin’s article, entitled “Days of Penury, Days of Affluence,” contended that the prosperity ABC News had enjoyed in recent years had made its operations over staffed, inefficient, unfocused and in need of a “redesign.”

Arguing that that once-strong distinctions between network and local news programs had become muddied, he urged a return to an emphasis on planning and careful use of resources that were mandatory in the early 1970s simply because ABC then lacked the money of rival CBS and NBC.

Even with a return of lean economic times that will force cutbacks, he wrote, “the downsizing of network news in 1987 need not be a rout if it is done properly.

“There must be no return to the Days of Penury, but the seduction of the largesse of the Days of Affluence must be replaced by editorial direction based on thoughtful journalism, insight and creativity.”

Dated Feb. 12, the article was written at a time when, because of flat advertising revenues and stiff competition from independent stations and cable TV, all three networks are seeking ways to cut costs--including those of their once-sacrosanct news divisions, whose budgets range from $250 million to $300 million annually.

Some observers regarded the article as a criticism of Arledge, who became ABC News president in 1977 and has presided over its era of increased budgets and rapid growth. But Westin denied that he was taking a shot at his boss: “It (the article) never was intended to be critical of Roone Arledge or of his contributions to ABC News.”

All three networks’ news divisions, now being pressed to adopt a leaner way of life, are considering marked changes, including different ways of news gathering and the formats of their evening news programs.

Westin never sent his written analysis of problems at ABC News to Channels. He said he had changed his mind. However, copies of it wound up outside the news division.