KNBC Preempts ‘Donahue’ on Media and War

KNBC Channel 4 was the only station in the country to preempt Thursday’s “Donahue” program about CNN and press restrictions in covering the war, prompting complaints from viewers and charges that station executives were engaging in a kind of censorship themselves.

“I feel it is a form of censorship because the program’s content was involved with freedom of the press and the Mideast war and the fact that most of the reporting we’ve been getting is being filtered through the Pentagon,” said Eileen Fields, a viewer who tuned in at 3 p.m. Thursday to see this particular installment, which had been promoted at the end of Wednesday’s program.

“ ‘Donahue’ had a show that’s trying to get to the bottom of this, and I have a feeling Channel 4 didn’t air it because they have 3 hours of news immediately following the show and it would have taken credibility away from what they were about to report.”

KNBC preempted the program, which featured an interview with Ed Turner, CNN’s executive vice president for news gathering, to air a local newscast that included weather and traffic reports along with viewer calls about the gulf war. The station planned to preempt “Donahue” again Friday, but could not say whether it would continue to air a 3 p.m. newscast beyondFriday.

KNBC executives declined to provide an explanation for the preemptions, nor would they say whether the station would broadcast the unaired “Donahue” programs at a later date.

Pat McMillen, executive producer of “Donahue,” said that KNBC did not inform the show about the preemption. “Donahue” producers found out about it only after viewers called the show’s New York offices to complain, she said. The show was not preempted by any of the other 224 stations that carry it, she said.