Networks’ Plans Dangle as Democratic Convention Looms : Television: Broadcast executives say they are hampered because Democratic National Committee has been slow in scheduling.

Two weeks before the Democratic convention, the television broadcast networks are facing a dilemma over how much prime-time coverage to devote to the event, which will take place July 13 through 16 in Madison Square Garden.

Concerned with the cost of preempting entertainment programming and noting that both the Democratic and Republican conventions have become more like coronations than selection processes, network officials have been leaning toward limiting prime-time coverage to one hour on some nights of the four-day Democratic convention, with 1 1/2 or two hours planned for July 16, when the likely nominee, Gov. Bill Clinton, is expected to give his acceptance speech.

But network executives say they have been unable to make specific plans because the Democratic National Committee has been unusually slow in scheduling speakers for the convention.

“We appear to be in a great state of flux because we are in a state of flux,” Jeff Gralnick, executive producer of ABC’s election reporting, said Tuesday. “I’ve been covering political conventions since 1964, and we’ve never gotten this close to a convention without having a schedule. . . . We have not had any answers from the Democrats or the Clinton campaign once you get past Monday night (July 13).”

Earlier this week, the Democrats announced their three keynote speakers for that Monday: New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Georgia Gov. Zell Miller and former Texas Rep. Barbara Jordan.

An announcement was expected at any time on the speakers for July 14, an issues-oriented evening that is being planned to include ordinary citizens as well as well-known figures. Sources said that Jesse Jackson and former President Jimmy Carter were likely speakers that night.

The evening is planned as counter-programming to CBS’ plans to carry the all-star baseball game (with brief convention updates from CBS News during the game). But the scheduling of the speakers could present problems for ABC and for NBC, which have been planning to broadcast the convention live from 10 to 11 p.m. EDT on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, but will be under pressure not to miss a major address.

“We’re planning to broadcast at least one hour per night in prime time, but the scheduling of the events could mean that some of those 10 p.m.’s will become earlier once we have a full schedule,” ABC’s Gralnick said. “At this point, we’re really kinda hung by the Democratic National Committee.”

In a joint venture, NBC and PBS will broadcast from 8 to 11 p.m. EDT on PBS, with anchor Tom Brokaw at the convention site joining PBS anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer on PBS, then doing separate convention coverage on NBC, beginning at 10 on most nights, 9:30 on Thursday night.

“Tuesday night is somewhat problematic at this point,” said Bill Wheatley, executive producer of both the NBC and NBC/PBS joint venture, referring to NBC’s live coverage. “We are going to have to make a decision once we know more about who’s speaking and the (Democratic committee’s TV producers’) plans to combine videos with people from the heartland.” But he said the network was not planning to extend its hours that night.

“What you’re going to see in the next few days is a little waltz between the networks and the Democrats,” Reuven Frank, the former president of NBC News, said. “It’s a game of ‘chicken’ they’re playing. If they could get away with it, the networks would try to limit the coverage to about an hour per night. But the Democratic committee is going to try to make it impossible for them to do that. The Republicans--who are likely to have even less drama at their convention this year--try to do the same thing, with their ‘photo ops’ of Nancy and Ronald Reagan waving at each other (at previous conventions), but they tend to know more about their convention plans upfront.”

Frank predicted that as events unfold, networks would be motivated to expand their coverage.

“There’s going to be that call, saying, for example, that Jesse Jackson, is speaking,” Frank said. “Because of a combination of tradition, a fear of criticism or embarrassment, and a genuine concern about something newsworthy happening, I think the networks will be forced to push back their coverage somewhat earlier on some nights. Given the financial constraints they’re under from the entertainment side, I wouldn’t expect them to push the hours back too much. But if one network goes on longer, will the others dare not go on too?”

Officials at both the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee said they did not think their detailed plans were too late in coming for planning by the networks. “The Republicans didn’t hand out a schedule until 17 days before the start of the New Orleans convention,” Ann Reingold, media director for the Democratic National Committee, said. “I’m sympathetic to their needs, but we would rather roll out all the specifics of our schedule with some amount of certainty.

“A year ago, when George Bush was considered invincible,” Reingold continued, “the networks were threatening no coverage, with their anchors not in the convention hall but in their New York studios.”

Executives at the broadcast networks said that they have been planning for some time to have Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw all anchor their coverage from Madison Square Garden.

At Cable News Network, producers at the all-news network view conventions do not operate within the constraints of networks. CNN is planning extensive live coverage of the convention, not only from 8 to 11 p.m. in prime time but also in the afternoons and through a daily “Inside Politics” show as well as through convention-based coverage for shows such as “Larry King Live.’

“The American voter and our viewers would feel rightly jilted if they didn’t get (extensive) coverage from CNN,” said anchor Bernard Shaw. “When the American people are on the brink of selecting the next President of the United States, what they and their political parties do is of the utmost importance. Drama and suspense are not what’s driving our coverage. If those delegates sat there and slept for four days, we are duty-bound to cover it.”

Broadcast executives generally said that they plan to “open up” traditional convention-hall coverage and reflect the populist concerns of this unusual presidential campaign. NBC’s Wheatley, for example, said that, particularly during both the early hours of the NBC/PBS joint venture and during NBC’s solo coverage, the producers were planning to examine themes for the evening, such as “looking at the Democratic party itself and what it stands for in 1992.”

“The parties seem to have made a point of squeezing all of the drama out of conventions,” said Lane Venardos, executive producer of CBS’ political coverage. “The networks are cutting back on their hours, but the decision is not based on economics. Part of the decision we’re making is what’s the news here.”

The hours of convention coverage by the broadcast networks have diminished steadily over the years. Years ago, when there was no CNN or C-SPAN and the presidential nominee was decided at the convention, not in primaries, the networks carried as much as 12 hours of a convention in a single day. In 1980, the total number of hours of coverage of the Democratic convention had dropped to 20 hours on CBS and NBC, with 10 hours on ABC. By 1988, ABC, CBS and NBC each carried about two hours in prime-time coverage of the conventions. At the same time, TV ratings for recent conventions have been low.

Reuven Frank, who produced the political conventions that made stars of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, argues that with nominations virtually sewn up in advance, “There is absolutely no reason journalistically to cover the conventions--1952 was the last time there was even a second ballot, and the parties consider them just free political advertising. There may be a civics reason for covering them, but Cable News Network and C-SPAN (which plans gavel-to-gavel coverage) provide a service that didn’t exist in the past.”