Pressure On Talk Shows Shifts To Firms’ Brass

Accelerating their campaign against TV talk shows that they say debase American culture, former Education Secretary William J. Bennett and Sen. Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday sent letters to the chief executives of the corporations that make the programs.

“We’re calling on these corporations’ sense of corporate responsibility and asking them to exercise their authority to clean up these talk shows,” said Nicole Giddens, a spokeswoman for Bennett’s Empower America advocacy group.

The CEOs of Time Warner, Sony, Viacom and the Tribune Co. are among the executives who will be receiving the letters.

If they don’t make changes, she said, “We’ll continue our campaign. Our next step would be radio advertisements and mailing to the citizenry.”

Time Warner produces the “Jenny Jones” and “Carnie” talk shows through its television division. A division of Sony produces the “Ricki Lake” show. Viacom produces the “Maury Povich” and “Montel Williams” programs. The Tribune Co. produces the “Geraldo Rivera” and “Charles Perez” shows.

Bennett praised Oprah Winfrey for her decision to do less sensational fare on her syndicated talk show.

Spokespersons for Time Warner and Viacom declined comment Wednesday.

Giddens said that a campaign to persuade advertisers to withdraw their support of the targeted talk shows would be “our final effort, after these others.”