Is Channel 2 Unaffected in the Big Race for Ratings?

Parents who kill their children. The subject evokes shock, revulsion, tears--and perverse curiosity. It seems perfect for the kind of heavily hyped and sensationalized “mini-docs” that clutter local TV newscasts during the critical ratings sweeps periods.

Earlier this month, WCBS-TV in New York ran a news series called “Moms Who Kill.” In full-page newspaper ads, the station posed the question, “How could a mother take the life of her own child?” and then asked viewers to tune in to see “shocking undercover footage” of a mother actually trying to smother her 6-month-old baby.

On Sunday, KCBS-TV Channel 2, WCBS’ sister station here, is launching its own 7-part mini-doc on parents who kill their kids.

But Channel 2’s “Action News” producers insist that their series on child homicide, born out of last year’s Elizabeth Steinberg child abuse/murder case in New York, will be a serious examination of an important and growing problem.

“I would not want people to think that this is a (sex-and-violence-type sweeps series), because that’s not what it is,” says producer Laura Carter. “And if people are reading that into it, it’s very unfortunate.”

In a conscious effort to avoid being accused of exploiting a violent topic to “spike” the station’s news ratings, the series’ producers say they will neither borrow the undercover footage that WCBS obtained from a Texas hospital nor broadcast any pictures of battered, bloodied children.

Terry Murphy, KCBS anchor and the reporter on this sweeps series, also turned down an opportunity to interview a man who had been convicted of beheading his two small children.

“It angers me that we have to sit and defend ourselves about sweeps,” says Robin Anderson, executive producer in charge of special projects, who oversees all mini-docs at KCBS. “It angers me because we get lumped in with (Channels) 4 and 7. Sure, sweeps is a part of our business, but I’ll be damned if we’re ever going to put on ‘Lesbian Nuns.’ ”

“Lesbian Nuns” is one of KABC-TV Channel 7’s most legendary sweeps series. This month the station tried to lure news audiences with special reports on phone porn, how to tell if your lover is cheating, what women really want from men, computer porn, exercise addicts, abortion, plastic surgery and Princess Fergie and Prince Andrew. KNBC-TV Channel 4 countered with mini-docs about prenuptial agreements, how to marry a millionaire, sex after 40, office romance, phone sex, new-age religion, drugs in show business, earthquake preparedness in Japan and America’s obsession with England’s Royal Family.

While management at KABC and KNBC refused to talk to The Times about sweeps (see adjoining related story), KCBS news director Erik Sorenson was candid about the subject. Secure in his belief that Channel 2 does not succumb to what he terms “the crass promotional” tricks of the sweeps trade that the other two network-owned stations often employ, he agreed to open his newsroom for a look at how the “Parents Who Kill” mini-doc was created.

That is not to say that KCBS is entirely immune from the sweeps mentality. By the time sweeps ends, Channel 2 will have aired seven series, including three--”Date Rape,” “The 10 Most Wanted Criminals in Southern California” and “Parents Who Kill”--that deal with violent crimes.

“It’s a fine line,” Sorenson says of choosing mini-doc topics for sweeps that will not only appeal to viewers but are newsworthy as well. “Do we promote the most dry, serious, intellectual things we can find just so some newspaper won’t accuse us of being exploitive? That wouldn’t be smart business. We want people to watch.”

Sorenson concedes that all three stations rely on “hooks” that have proven successful in previous sweeps months. That’s why special reports on health, crime and family issues abound in February, May and November.

“And Channel 7 knows that sex is something that’s very interesting,” Sorenson says. “And so you end up with ‘Sex Addicts’ (a KABC mini-doc last November) and other kinky stuff. We basically draw the line at sex. Even with date rape--even though it’s not really about sex--I had some squeamishness about it. We’re squeamier over here. We won’t look at sex.”

Planning for sweeps is a full-time chore. Even before last November’s sweeps were finished, Anderson issued a memo to everyone in the newsroom courting suggestions for topics for February.

Terry Murphy, who, as the mother of a 3-year-old son, had been terribly disturbed by the Steinberg case, proposed a series on child abuse in Los Angeles.

Initially, Sorenson balked at the idea and broadened it to include all kinds of family violence. But after researching the topic, Murphy and her producer sold their reluctant boss on parents who kill.

“My reservations were just that portions of the public would think less of Channel 2 or less of Terry Murphy because they thought we were only doing this in an effort to manipulate them into watching,” Sorenson says. “But I was convinced by a reporter and a producer who felt adamant about it journalistically.”

For more than two months, Murphy and Carter immersed themselves in the less than glamorous side of television news--interviewing, shooting scores of videocassettes, logging and editing the tape, writing, rewriting and recording the scripts. Their finished product, which champions public-agency intervention and therapy groups that try to stop out-of-control parents before they go too far, premieres Sunday at 6 p.m. and then continues Monday through Wednesday on KCBS’ 5 and 11 p.m. newscasts.

Sorenson says the station spends tens of thousands of dollars above its regular news budget on these special sweeps reports. But the real money goes into promotion. Mini-docs are cost-effective promotional tools that can be hyped for several days at a time. They can also be used as publicity vehicles for the anchor/reporter.

KCBS refused to reveal how much money it spends on sweeps promotion, but nearly all of these series at all three network-owned stations are advertised in TV Guide and newspapers, on radio and on each station’s own air.

Some TV news people contend that it is misleading or titillating ads that help to sustain TV news’ reputation for stooping to exploitation and fluff during sweeps.

“The promotional people operate from a far different perspective than we do,” says Murphy, who has also worked at Channel 7. “Their goal is to get as many people to watch the series, while we’re trying to present a quality piece of journalism. The ads don’t always reflect what I know I’m doing.”

At KCBS, however, Sorenson says he has the last word on all news promotion. He points out, for example, that the news department killed one ad for the child homicide series because it was in “bad taste.” He would not describe the ad he vetoed. The ad he approved for TV Guide features a drawing of a woman in handcuffs under the headline “Parents Who Kill.”

Though he admits that his bosses expect him to improve Channel 2’s last-place standing among the 3 network-owned stations, Sorenson believes that playing the sweeps game with mini-docs that are newsworthy and in good taste will eventually lead the station to the top of the ratings heap.

“A lot of my colleagues tell me that I’m crazy and naive to believe that,” Sorenson says. “They tell me that people out there are unsophisticated and the viewers really respond to series like ‘Addicted to Sex.’ And I think some viewers do. But a lot of viewers are offended by them. They don’t think that junk belongs in a newscast.”