ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

THE ARTS

Lowbrow: Despite a nationwide explosion of arts activity, media coverage of television, movies and music dominates arts news at the expense of dance, architecture and the visual arts, according to a report just released by the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University. The 125-page “Reporting the Arts, News Coverage of Arts and Culture in America,” the first comprehensive analysis of the topic, said that while U.S. newspapers maintain a commitment to arts reportage, they do so mostly with once- or twice-weekly entertainment sections, nearly half of which are listings. Arts journalism continues to be a lower priority than business and sports, the study found, while, on network television, arts stories are concentrated on the morning programs rather than evening newscasts, which the study said devote less than 1% of their time to the arts. Of the 15 newspapers analyzed during October 1998, the Chicago Tribune fared best, with an average of eight daily cultural reviews. The Los Angeles Times was not among those surveyed.

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To Remember: “Blacklist,” a sculptural environment by artist Jenny Holzer designed as a monument to the 1st Amendment and a memorial to victims of the infamous McCarthy era, will be inaugurated at 4 p.m. today at USC’s Fisher Gallery. The $250,000 artwork, paid for by 700 contributors, features stone forms inscribed with provocative quotations in a garden-like setting near the gallery. The project was initiated by faculty members of the university’s Filmic Writing Program to ensure that future filmmakers would be aware of infringements on professional creativity and personal liberty that came to a head in October 1947, when the House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenaed 10 filmmakers to testify about their allegedly subversive political beliefs.

MOVIES

One Step Forward: Director Roman Polanski (“Chinatown,” “Rosemary’s Baby”), who fled America in 1978 after being charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl, comments on the incident in the current issue of Esquire magazine. “There was no plot against me,” he says. “There was no setup. It was all my fault. I think that my wrongdoing was much greater than Bill Clinton’s.” On the issue of birth control, he says: “I think the Pill altered female thinking. When you think that millions of women were taking daily hormones, you cannot deny that it must have changed their personalities. I truly don’t think that feminism would reach such absurd proportions if there were no Pill.”

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‘Luxo’ Revisited: Folks heading for “Toy Story 2,” Disney’s Thanksgiving release, will be getting a double bill, of sorts. Ticket-buyers will be treated to “Luxo Jr.,” a 1986 short film also created by Pixar Animation Studios. “ ‘Luxo Jr.’ was the first computer-animated film where the story and characters were more important to audiences than the fact that it was made with a computer,” said its director, John Lasseter, who won a best short-film Oscar nomination for his efforts.

TELEVISION

Toyota Gone: Veteran KCBS anchor Tritia Toyota apparently has left the station, sources said. She has not been seen on the air since she was removed from the early-morning and noon newscasts in September and October. One insider said that Toyota was offered an opportunity to continue at the station but apparently declined. Attempts to reach Toyota were unsuccessful. She had worked at the station since 1985.

Drudge Report: The standoff between Internet columnist Matt Drudge and Fox News Channel continued Tuesday but won’t go on for long: Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes said, “This issue will be resolved one way or the other by Friday.” The dispute started when Drudge refused to do his Saturday program, “Drudge,” because Fox wouldn’t let him show a picture of a fetus undergoing surgery as a jumping-off point to talk about abortion.

More “Millionaire”: Responding to its spectacular ratings for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” ABC has chosen to extend the quiz show’s run three additional days, through Nov. 24. The network will air an hour of the program next Monday through Wednesday beginning at 8 p.m., no doubt hoping to ensure ABC’s overall victory in the November rating sweeps. Hosted by Regis Philbin, the program attracted its largest audience yet Monday, with 26.8 million people tuning in. The toll-free contestant hotline will stay open an extra day, through Friday. The network has yet to indicate when the show will return after next week, and whether it will be maintained as a sweeps event or run on a regular basis.

STAGE

New Addition: A third theater is in the works for the La Jolla Playhouse complex on the campus of UC San Diego. A 200-seat “black box” theater space will be part of a $7.5-million facility that also will include rehearsal rooms, classrooms, shop space and offices. Joan and Irwin Jacobs contributed $5 million ($2 million in the form of a challenge grant) for the new building, construction of which is expected to begin in late 2000. The project is part of a $36-million capital campaign for the playhouse, announced last week; half of the campaign’s total already has been raised.

QUICK TAKES

Los Angeles mezzo-soprano Cynthia Jansen, 30, was the winner at the Metropolitan Opera Western Regional Auditions Saturday at USC’s Bovard Auditorium. In addition to winning $4,800, she will represent the region at the national finals in New York City next spring. Long Beach tenor Robert J. MacNeil, 30, received $3,600 for a second-place finish, while San Diego soprano Tara Generalovich 22, won $2,400 for placing third.