Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994                   TAG: 9402100229
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MELANIE S. HATTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THEY DON'T SEE EYE TO EYE ON THE ISSUE

The one who wins this argument is the one with the more convincing spin on the facts. It's a strategy often used in politics. It also has found its way into television.

Consider Matthew Israel, executive director of the Behavior Research Institute in Providence, R.I. He says host Connie Chung is going to do a negative story on his school in tonight's episode of "Eye to Eye," which airs Feb. 10 at 10 on WDBJ (Channel 7).

CBS says it's going to be a balanced story.

The school uses a behavior modification program that includes skin-shock treatment on children with severe behavior problems, such as banging their heads or gouging their eyes. Not everyone agrees with the method, but its proponents say it works.

In October, Israel issued his side of the story to head off any public reaction to "Eye to Eye's" version. He sent a videotape and letter to 100 of the country's largest newspapers.

It's called using "inoculation as a strategy," Denton said. "If I know what my negatives are and know what you're going to do then I'm going to take a proactive posture. You want to inoculate the public ... so there's this big BUT there. So when `Eye to Eye' comes on people will say, `oh yeah, but that's not the whole truth.'''

The key is to get the information out before the other side is aired, Denton said. If Israel was to wait until after the episode appeared, he would look defensive, and the negative image would already be planted in the public's mind.

Israel says: "Our program is about to become the latest victim of television newsmagazine `gotcha!' journalism."

In his videotape, Israel gives his version of what happened the day he was interviewed by Chung. It also shows highlights of the four-hour interview in front of a crowd of 20 to 30 parents of children who attend the Institute.

It presents what Israel believes is unfair interviewing by Chung. She asks Israel the same question more than once. Five times she asks him a question and is shown interrupting him while he's trying to answer. She also asks: "If indeed you administered these spankings, are you guilty of abuse?" The audience erupts in laughter. Israel says on the tape that this question assumes he is guilty when he is not.

In the letter, Israel writes: "I wanted to show you before the broadcast aired how biased and one-sided this piece was intended to be and how CBS News, from the very inception of this project, predetermined that it would be a negative piece, no matter what the actual facts revealed."

In a telephone interview in November, Jill Bernstein, publicist for "Eye to Eye" said, "I'm not going to comment on this because it is a work in progress," and then she hung up.

However, in September the show's executive producer, Andrew Heyward, told The Washington Post: "We are absolutely committed to doing a fair, balanced piece on the treatment. We have no agenda, and it is a work in progress. The story is about a therapy that has been controversial, but it's one that parents insist is the only thing that can help their kids with their very severe emotional problems. We plan to do a balanced piece."

Israel said the newsmagazines "Nightline" and "20/20'' have profiled the school.

He said his complaint is that Chung focused on comments made by a disgruntled student and former employees and made no attempt to get positive comments for balance.

"I would have loved to cooperate fully [with CBS] if they had just been willing to film both sides of the issue," Israel said in a telephone interview. He sent the tape to CBS executives in the hope that "Eye to Eye" will "feel constrained to present a balanced story," he said.

Israel's 33-minute video opens with Chung sitting stonefaced as an irate father spouts his disgust at her approach. He says: "I had a lotta respect for you. No more. You are nothing." His anger is used to pull the viewer into Israel's side of the story.

Producers for the show had spent several weeks at the school before Chung arrived in August. Israel said he isn't blaming Chung but says her staff did poor research. During the interview, "you're not really talking to Connie Chung, you're talking to the producer," he said.

"It's damage control," Denton said. "Minimize the fall out, minimize the risk and target your audience." It's a tactic used by politicians and is becoming more popular in corporate America. In fact, Denton said, many schools, including Tech, are teaching corporate advocacy as part of the public-relations course.