Dishing It Out : Coverage: TV stations training their antennas on the O.J. Simpson case have created a veritable ‘media city’ across the street from the courthouse.

A small makeshift town has arisen in a parking lot across the street from the Criminal Courts Building--complete with high-rises, crammed parking, portable toilets and rifts between neighbors. Though it has no government or major controversies of its own, it will soon be the most visible “city”’ in the nation.

This town within Downtown is the new “media city” where the major television networks and smaller stations coming into Los Angeles to cover the O.J. Simpson murder trial will make camp.

The location, next to the former Los Angeles County Jail, is where network hotshots such as NBC’s Tom Brokaw and teams of special “O.J. unit” television journalists will be putting together everything from live coverage of the proceedings during the day to instant specials at night. NBC alone has 12 experts and national correspondents covering the trial.

Many of the live reports by the networks will come from towering platforms surrounded by uncertain-looking scaffolding that will offer a clear shot of the court building where the trial is taking place.

Finishing touches were being completed Wednesday even though the four networks and local stations were still uncertain about their plans for the trial. Under consideration are plans to rotate the coverage among the networks.

*

So far, the networks seem to be leaning against the gavel-to-gavel coverage they provided during Simpson’s preliminary hearing. Coverage of that proceeding cost ABC, CBS and NBC an estimated $1 million each in lost advertising revenue and alienated many soap opera fans, even though the daytime ratings significantly increased.

“CBS obviously lost money during the preliminary hearing, but that’s not what’s driving our decision-making,” said Lane Venardos, who is in charge of the network’s coverage. “This trial, unlike the preliminary hearing, is expected to last for months, and there will be times when it is riveting and times when it is tedious.”

Network officials said they will probably provide live coverage all day when the testimony is considered important. On other days, they may go live briefly without preempting the daytime schedule. Every day, officials said, they plan to provide at least some live updates.

“There will be several days during the trial--opening and closing arguments, testimony by Simpson and other important witnesses--when it’s clear we’ll be live all day,” said David Bohrman, the NBC News executive in charge of special events coverage. “Those are about five days when you know you have to be there gavel-to-gavel--but how many more will there be? That will have to be decided as we go along.”

Local and independent stations said they may make a decision Friday about rotating the coverage.

However, CNN and Court TV plan to provide live, gavel-to-gavel coverage. The ratings for both increased substantially during the preliminary hearing.

“We don’t have to have some OJ-o-meter to measure our ratings,” said Court TV spokesman Lloyd Trufelman. “If the trial lasts for months, we’ll be there, as we were with the Menendez trial.”

Despite the uncertainty, the “town” seemed to be in full swing Wednesday. Court hearings on Simpson and alleged Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss were taking place simultaneously across the street in the Criminal Courts Building, along with a news conference by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announcing that it would not file child molestation charges against superstar entertainer Michael Jackson.

Long trailers were filled with technicians, editors, writers and producers watching complicated banks of TV monitors, video reporters, sound equipment and control boards. Camera operators rushed here and there. Outside, workers toiled on finishing 30- and 40-foot-tall scaffolding towers belonging to CBS, CNN and NBC.

Carolyn Fox, executive director of the Radio-Television News Assn. of Southern California, a professional organization that is coordinating the television coverage, said the media city has become a community unto itself. “We’ve got Dumpsters, we’ve got 600 telephone lines, we’ve got Porta Potties. It’s the most complicated setup we’ve ever done. We’ve done everything for them but cook, and I told them I’m not cooking,” she quipped.

*

Of course, the establishment of any town is impossible without disagreements over property and territory, and insiders indicate that the new “media city” is no exception. They said NBC built its towers highest because it wanted to have a higher vantage point and better view than other stations. There was also a report that ABC was trying to exclude Fox from using a broadcast platform, saying it would be reserved for the networks that had a Washington bureau--which Fox does not have. Fox has reportedly threatened legal action, but officials declined to comment.

Fox and others denied that there was any disarray at the makeshift city. “Everyone is getting along,” CBS producer Sally Garner said. “There’s no trouble.”

Although there is still uncertainty over how the networks will cover the trial, there is no doubt among executives that viewer interest is high, even in light of recent world events such as in Haiti.

“I could make a case for it and against the attention it’s getting,” said Bob Furnad, in charge of special events coverage for CNN. “Haiti is what people need to know about; O.J. Simpson is what they want to know about.”