Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407070020
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
``It suddenly dawned on me a few months ago why I don't get enough pleasure out of doing my show,'' said Lovett, executive producer of ``In a New Light '94,'' ABC's third annual AIDS outreach and entertainment special. It airs Saturday night at 8 on WSET-Channel 13.
``I realized that my expectation was to end the epidemic,'' he said. ``I suddenly realized that I'm not going to meet that expectation, so I'd better lower it.''
``In a New Light'' is unique television, combining touching documentary stories with up-to-date facts about AIDS and performances from Clint Black, Gloria Estefan, Lou Reed, Michael Feinstein and others.
President Clinton makes a special appearance on the program, as do a raft of celebrity guests, and the whole thing is being promoted as ``A Night Against AIDS'' with AIDS organizations nationwide sponsoring ``viewing parties.''
``On Saturday night, July 9, you invite some friends over for dinner,'' Lovett explained. ``You decide that you're going to watch the show and talk about it.
``Since you're not going out to dinner that night, or going to a club and drinking, send that money to your local AIDS organization,'' he said.
Lovett says he's very much frustrated that little progress has been made against the disease since ``In a New Light '93.''
``There are tens of thousands more people infected with HIV in the United States. Almost all cases were preventable,'' he said. ``And there are about two million more cases around the world.''
``Those of us who've been following the AIDS epidemic since the beginning continue to be dumbfounded at how little attention continues to be brought to it. How do you get bored with an epidemic?'' he said. ``The tragedy is that we are not stopping it - and we could.''
Lovett said he cannot understand why every major newspaper and TV news program does not have a weekly AIDS report.
``The fact that it has not occurred yet shows the disease has still not broken through,'' he said. ``People still don't understand it, despite the fact that almost everyone in the United States knows someone who is HIV positive - whether they know it or not.''
Lovett said he is most pleased that ``In a New Light'' is starting to reach its potential for outreach.
``After last year's program, more than 100,000 people called the AIDS Hotline,'' he said. That toll-free number is 1-800-342-AIDS.
``Our show is one of the few times that sex is frankly discussed on the air, about the way that it happens,'' he said. ``Our show discusses sex in a social context, in a very straightforward, clear manner that no one could miss.
``When Barbara Walters stands up there and talks about sexual intercourse - vaginal, rectal or oral - that's a little ground-breaking for prime-time television. And that fact that it's Barbara Walters saying it is so important.
``What we're trying to do is get people comfortable about talking about AIDS, and comfortable about discussing sex and sexuality, needle use.
``It's not a matter of encouraging sex and needle use, but of knowing how to protect yourself.
``All we're trying to do is start a discussion.''
Elsewhere in television ...
PBS' ``NEWSHOUR'' TRUSTED: Monthly viewership of the ``MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour'' has grown by one third over the past nine years, to approximately 35 million viewers - nearly half that of ``NBC Nightly News.''
That's based on 3,000 viewer interviews by Roper Starch Worldwide in March and April. The survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent, also found the ``NewsHour'' was one of TV's most trusted newscasts.
In head-to-head comparison among viewers of both MacNeil-Lehrer and Rather-Chung, ``37 percent said they would believe the `NewsHour' versus 26 percent for CBS,'' the study concluded.
by CNB