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Saunders: 'Frontline' at the cutting edge

Published February 13, 2007 at midnight

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Timing is everything when it comes to important TV documentary work.

The Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial regarding the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame is still in session.

On Friday a report was released claiming Pentagon officials undercut the intelligence community by not providing accurate analysis about the situation in Iraq as the White House pressed for the invasion.

Those two topics are covered tonight in the first segment of News War, airing on Frontline, PBS' award-winning documentary series. News War is a four-week series examining the thorny aspects of today's news business while centering on the often-antagonistic relationship between the press and government.

In more than 80 interviews with key figures in print and electronic media and political figures, Frontline correspondent Lowell Bergman examines what has happened in recent years and looks at the future problems facing the media.

Bergman, no stranger to journalism, has worked for The New York Times, ABC News and 60 Minutes, where, in 1995 he clashed with CBS News, contending the network did now allow him to provide a full exposé of the cigarette industry.

Based on tonight's opening hour, subtitled Secrets, Spin and the Future of News, the series should be viewed by those of all political stripes and media members - particularly journalists who deal regularly with news sources on and off the record.

Bergman feels "a perfect storm has been brewing in the world of news."

"Not since the Nixon administration has there been this level of hostility directed toward news organizations," Bergman says.

"But unlike the confrontations of 35 or more years ago, today's news war sees the very economic foundations of the news business shifting."

Tonight's program centers on the relationship between the Bush administration and the press, the use of anonymous sources and the long-range consequences of the Plame leak investigation.

The report comes down fairly hard on major media outlets, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, Bob Woodward - and Frontline.

The argument: the nation's press did not dig hard enough into administration claims of the danger to U.S. security that Iraq represented. Key figures like Woodward and The Times' Judy Miller are on camera, talking about their prewar coverage.

Woodward is shown on Larry King's show, telling viewers "that the chance of not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq are about zero."

"That was totally wrong," Woodward tells Frontline.

"I think I dropped the ball here. I should've pushed much, much harder."

Segments dealing with the current Libby perjury trial over the outing of Plame as a CIA agent delve into the role of national reporters on how they deal with their anonymous sources.

Also featured is the ongoing debate about America's right to know, balanced against the government's secrecy for security reasons.

In the second hour (Feb. 20) Bergman interviews journalists facing jail for refusing to reveal their sources.

The Feb. 27 program examines the mounting pressure for profits faced by television's news divisions and daily newspapers, as well as the growing challenges from cable and the Internet.

The fourth hour (March 27) will look at media around the globe, examining the international forces that influence politics and journalism in the U.S.

CBS' CSI: N.Y. led the time period with 15 million viewers.

• My viewing dilemma on being torn on Wednesday night between Fox's Bones and NBC's Friday Night Lights was not shared nationally. Bones drew 12.6 million viewers while Lights had only 6.4 million. Unfortunately, it could be lights out for Friday Night Lights after one season.

• Thursday's premiere of CBS' Survivor finished No. 1 in its 7 p.m. time period, slightly ahead of ABC's Ugly Betty.

Today's nostalgia

On Feb. 13, 1990, NBC aired the second and final two hours of Blind Faith, an adaptation of Joe McGinniss' book about a New Jersey man who murdered his wife. Robert Ulrich and Joanna Kearns starred.