World News as a ‘Day One’ Priority : Television: ABC’s new magazine show has hired Paul Woolwich, former executive of British TV’s tough, influential ‘This Week,’ as foreign editor.

ABC’s new “Day One” aims to become one of TV’s most hard-hitting and international-looking news programs.

Toward that goal, the Sunday night magazine show has hired Paul Woolwich, one of British television’s most respected investigative journalists, as foreign editor, with orders to uncover major stories across Europe, the former Soviet Union, Africa and the Middle East.

As the former executive producer of British TV’s “This Week,” a tough and influential current-affairs program, Woolwich’s recruitment by ABC seems to send a sterling signal about the seriousness with which “Day One” plans to tackle world affairs.

But his departure from British television could be symbolic of the opposing trends affecting current-affairs programs in the United States and Britain.

On American television, TV news magazines have become a major growth industry, with “Day One” surfacing earlier this month from among the wealth of news division programs in development at ABC, NBC, CBS and even Fox. Prime-time news magazines have proven they can draw acceptable, even substantial, ratings for far less than it costs to produce drama and comedy. CBS’ “60 Minutes” still tops the ratings.

In Britain, however, there is concern that the upheaval in commercial television brought on by the government’s decision to auction off broadcast licenses will cripple serious broadcast journalism.

Two years ago, the British government overhauled its method of awarding regional broadcast franchises for the commercial Independent Television network (ITV), replacing the merit system with an auction in which licenses went to the highest bidder. The new configuration of ITV broadcasters, and a concurrent relaxation of regulations requiring public-interest programming in prime time, took hold at the start of this year.

Among the casualties of the new system was Thames Television, which had broadcast to the London region and produced “This Week,” among other programs, for the entire national ITV network.

After his job at “This Week” ended, Woolwich was approached by “Day One” executive producer Tom Yellin about coming to work there. Yellin, who had spent years as a London-based correspondent for ABC, was an admirer of British current-affairs programming.

“I was impressed by Tom’s plans,” says Woolwich, sitting in his office at ABC’s London bureau. “He wanted far tougher journalism. He wanted to go for big targets. He wanted overseas stories to be taken seriously on prime-time television. He wanted original journalism, not just following up what newspapers had done.”

Woolwich found it heartening to find that “at a time when British current affairs is going through such an upheaval, with everyone saying they didn’t really want it in prime time, here was an organization with ABC’s credentials that not only wanted this sort of programming on at prime time, but actually wanted people like me to be involved in it. That was flattering, because I had spent the last year defending all of this to people who, on the face of it, aren’t that interested.”

It isn’t just the demise of his 36-year-old news show that has left Woolwich and many others in Britain concerned about the future of current-affairs programming in Britain. There appears to be a deeper threat.

To compete in the ITV franchise auction, which put 15 regional licenses and the breakfast-time franchise on the block, many of the winning broadcasting companies promised fantastic amounts of money to the government. The British treasury should reap more than $500 million annually as a result.

But critics say that is $500 million that won’t be spent on programming at ITV, Britain’s most popular network.

Fears about the fate of quality programs were fueled when executives at some of the new ITV companies said prime-time programs--such as current affairs--would have to earn their keep. If they didn’t pull great ratings, they would be banished to fringe time slots. (Among other broadcasting changes accompanying the ITV auction was the elimination of the requirement that ITV companies had to schedule current-affairs programs in prime time.)

While ITV’s current-affairs programs often draw healthy, middle-range viewership, they have never been competition for the top-rated soaps and light entertainment that dominate the schedule.

ITV executives have since toned down their remarks following a public outcry and a barrage of bad press, and now say they are committed to keeping current affairs in prime time. Nonetheless, questions remain.

The issue for Woolwich, and others, is not just having prime-time investigative programs but ensuring there are programs that will have an impact and be presented in such a way to attract the largest possible viewership.

While both the British Broadcasting Corp. and Channel 4 offer respected news shows, neither broadcaster has been able to match the ratings or clout of ITV’s “This Week” and “World in Action,” which is produced for the network by Granada.

The BBC flagship current-affairs program “Panorama,” in particular, has suffered ratings and credibility problems. A “mission to explain” policy instigated in the mid-1980s resulted in numerous reports that eschewed easy-to-watch storytelling and replaced it with earnest but dull treatises on issues of the day. Viewers interested in the finer points of common agricultural policy in Europe were well-served, but the masses fled and “Panorama” eventually lost half its weekly audience.

The program also received intense criticism for postponing several politically sensitive reports at crucial moments. For example, “Panorama” produced a segment on the causes of Britain’s recession that found that Conservative government mistakes were largely to blame. Scheduled to air on the eve of Britain’s general election last April, the program was pulled at the last minute.

Under the new ITV configuration, the 30-year-old “World in Action” has retained its old Monday night prime-time slot, and its former executive producer has been named chief of ITV factual programming--probably a good sign for the show.

And contrary to some doomsday scenarios, “Storylines,” the short-term replacement for “This Week,” did not feature stripping housewives or gun-toting Lolitas, but offered serious investigative reports. But the program was, however, uprooted from “This Week’s” comfortable time period and thrown into the “suicide” slot against the BBC powerhouse “EastEnders,” which ranks at No. 1 or 2 in the ratings every week.

Stuart Prebble, the new controller of factual programming for ITV, defended the move, saying he would be happy to have “all the viewers who don’t want to watch ‘EastEnders.’ ” He also insisted that current affairs will always have a place on the prime-time ITV schedule.

But “Storylines,” part of a rotating group of programs, already has ended its short run and has been replaced by “3D,” a program that takes a softer approach than its predecessors and has so far featured reports on Siamese twins and a homosexual priest.

Woolwich believes current-affairs programs should be about tackling the toughest issues. “You should be going to examine the Establishment and the large institutions and the powerful politicians,” he says. “They all have things they want to hide from us. I’m a great believer that there are lots and lots of people desperately trying to keep us ignorant of things they are doing in our name. I like to know what people are doing in my name.”