Inside Media December 2, 1992

Copy Cats;
"Hard Copy," Paramount's tough tabloid show, has been drawing fire for its out-there journalism.
By Wayne Friedman

Alan Frio just couldn't take it anymore.

In 1989, he was riding high as news anchor of Paramounts syndicated tabloid magazine show "Hard Copy." Just one year later, however, it was becoming too hard to maintain his reputation as a serious journalist. "Here I was on a tabloid show - in the second year - doing things I didn't want to do," Frio recalls.

The show, he felt, was mutating into a parody of serious news shows. The turning point for Frio: Paramount Television, the show's producer and distributor, told him to wear glasses to ape a more journalistic demeanor.

But glasses couldn't change the tenor of the show, with all those stories about bikini contests and topless car washes. Today the show's not much different. Consider a recent week's worth of stories on "Hard Copy": A millionaire whose seven mistresses are suing each other; a 53-year-old-grandmother who gave birth to twins; a rock 'n'roll groupie who shot a girl for attempting to steal her boyfriend.

Frio knew things weren't going in the direction he wanted during the show's first year, the 1989-90 season. That's when Joe Lahey, "Hard Copy's" announcer, was recording a promo for the show. "We needed an attention grabber," says Frio. "He was kind of told to sleaze it up." Frio also says one producer was devoted to interviewing scores of people waiting for a chance to "dramatize" reports. "It was almost like a casting call," he says. "Actors and actresses were paraded through the studio."

Frio could stand it no longer. He quit the show at the end of 1991, moving to Sacramento as a news anchor for CBS affiliate KXTV's 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. "I made my feelings known that this was not for me," says Frio. "I made my reputation in news, and I didn't want to tinge my reputation any longer."

"Hard Copy" has been in the midst of a bitter fight for survival with two other mostly prime-access magazine shows - Twentieth Television's "A Current Affair" and King World Productions' "Inside Edition." And today there is added competition from such shows as Fox's "Cops," NBC's "Unsolved Mysteries" and CBS' "Rescue 911."

The "Hard Copy" strategy, launching as it did after "A Current Affair" and at the same time as "Inside Edition," was always to have more of an edge than the competition. In fact, "Hard Copy" was originally going to be called "Tabloid." But that kind of sensationalistic show was not what John Parsons and Mark Monsky, the show's creators, had in mind.

"We thought we were making a hip (60 Minutes,'" says Parsons, speaking publicly for the first time about the direction the show he co-created has taken. "But six to eight months into it, they Paramount wanted to go in a different direction."

Paramount's gamble paid off. For the week ending Nov. 1, "Hard Copy" ranked a respectable 21 out of 124 syndicated programs, earning a 5.2 rating in 152 markets (92 percent of U.S. TV households). It is, however, trailing "A Current Affair" and "Inside Edition" in Nielsen Syndication Service ratings. For the same week, "A Current Affair" led the magazine shows with a NSS 7.7 rating; "Inside Edition" was a close second with a 7.1.

"There is the perception that (Hard Copy' is the most tabloid of the three magazine shows," says Jack Fentress, vice president and director of programming at TV rep firm Petry. But station executives and agency professionals have few complaints. "There is an appetite for this genre - quasi-news, quasi-consumer, quasi-tabloid, quasi-gossip," says Janeen Bjork, vice president and director of programming at rep firm Seltel.

"Hard Copy" still shows up on advertiser hit lists, even if it is quasi-mainstream. TV rep Harrington Righter Parsons noted in a report last year that such companies as Nestle, Pillsbury, Exxon, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg's, Pepsi, Kraft General Foods and MasterCard have avoided the show because of its content. But now, in the show's fourth year on the air, advertisers have become more accepting. Pharmaceutical firms such as Abbott Labs, American Home Products, Bayer, Burroughs Wellcome and Warner-Lambert continue to buy the show, as does Unilever.

"Hard Copy" has endured a rash of criticism for its coverage of Amy Fisher, who has been branded by the media as "The Long Island Lolita" or, more simply, "Lethal Lolita." Last May, Fisher shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of her alleged ex-boyfriend, Joey Buttafuoco, in a jealous rage. At issue for "Hard Copy" is a videotape that the program aired on Sept. 25 showing Fisher talking with her then-boyfriend, Paul Makely, in a Long Island health club. "I can make a lot of money," Fisher says to Makely on the tape. "And, I fiqure, if I have to go through all the pain and suffering, I am getting a Ferrari."

Some people have accused the show of manufacturing the news, paying Makely anywhere from $ 10,000-50,000 to set Fisher up. "Hard Copy" allegedly briefed Makely on how to question Fisher. Did "Hard Copy" go over the journalistic line? "This not only went over the line, it trashed the line, it nuked the line," says Edwin Diamond, media critic at New York magazine. "Is this journalism? It's show biz, it's entertainment."

Rafael Abramovitz, the star reporter at "Hard Copy," and executive producer Peter Brennan are known for their pursuit of hard-to-get crime stories. Working together at "A Current Affair," they gained fame in 1988 by obtaining the infamous Robert Chambers tape. The tape shows Chambers, convicted killer of onetime girlfriend Jennifer Levin in what became known in New York City as "The Preppie Murder," partying with a group of women and gleefully twisting the head off a doll he refers to as Jennifer.

But tabloid shows have often bought videotapes from sources. John Terenzio, executive producer of "A Current Affair," admits to having done it. And he says the networks occasionally do the same.

But Parsons, who was senior producer of "Hard Copy" for its first two years, says he was disappointed with the way "Hard Copy" covered the Amy Fisher story. "What kind of society are we going to have if we have to wonder if every one of our friends might be wearing a hidden microphone?" he asks. Parsons expressed his disappointment to Abramovitz, who nabbed the Fisher video. (Abramovitz and Parsons have been longtime colleagues, first working together in the 1960s on "The 51st State," a hard-hitting, street-tough WNET-TV newscast.)

"Rafael called me and said, (What do you think?'" says Parsons. "I said, (Don't ask me.' Rafael said, (I want to know.' And I said, (Please don't ask me. I'll tell you.' Then he asked me. And I said, (I'm disappointed.'"

"I said, (Hey we go back a long time, we use to have standards, we used to believe in things, we always fought against invasion of privacy by the government. And now our shows, the business we are in - and I'm in it with you - now I look at this, and say look what we have gotten into. I'm queasy about it. It makes me question what we do.'"

Roger King, chairman of the board of King World Productions, the producer and distributor of "Inside Edition," is not a strong "Hard Copy" critic, charging that the show consistently airs stories filled with sex and violence. "We are saying the way (Hard Copy' has done it cover the Fisher story is wrong, and quite frankly they should be sued," says King.

"Hard Copy" editorial executives are upset that some people are making "Hard Copy" - not Amy Fisher - the story. Says executive producer Peter Brennan, who learned his trade in the tough world of Australian tabloids: "We don't discuss how we do our investigative journalism. We never have. The fact is the tape speaks for itself."

Before the tape, the perception fostered by some of the press had been that Amy Fisher was the victim in the case - a misguided teen allegedly taken advantage of by Joey Buttafuoco. Brennan says the tape depicts Fisher as cold and calculating. Brennan also questions those who used the tape - in some cases before "Hard Copy" aired the segment - without questioning its authenticity. "If the tape of Amy Fisher in that gym was so dirty, what does it say about CBS, NBC, and ABC, who ran it before Hard Copy?'" asks Brennan.

"They can go after (Hard Copy' as being the story in all this dirty mess here," Brennan continues. " But the story really is when Hollywood money started changing the course of the story before the legal system had run its course. I don't think Amy Fisher manipulated anyone here. I think the people surrounding her are the story."

The reporter on the case, Abramovitz, adamantly defends his actions. "I entrapped no one," he says. "This was her modus operandi. I just happened to get hold of a tape." Furthermore, Abramovitz and Brennan say that Fisher's attorney, Eric Naiburg, had been playing "Hard Copy" against the other magazine shows for an exclusive interview with Fisher. "Naiburg wasn't treating this as a law case, but as a publicity stunt," says Abramovitz. "They were packaging her, as they say in Hollywood."

Naiburg refutes the point that he was playing the shows against each other. "They were beating down my door," says Naiburg. "Every time they came to me with offers of oodles of money, it wasn't of any interest. And they did come with offers of oodles of money - more than just for Amy, I might add."

But a deal was made for an interview with Amy Fisher. "Inside Edition" paid for the interview, broadcast Nov. 9, 10 and 11, through KLM Productions, according to Naiburg. Sources say "Inside Edition" paid $ 60,000 to KLM.

"We didn't pay a cent to Amy Fisher," insists Judy Geder, publicist for "Inside Edition." But what about KLM? Geder adds: "We don't really comment on how we get our stories."

Though the money was used to help Fisher pay for bail, it didn't benefit her otherwise, says Naiburg. "Amy Fisher never benefited one dime from anything that was done," says Naiburg. "It would affect her credibility. My concern was strictly bail, and KLM came up with a unique bail concept and that's why we did it."

But "A Current Affair's" Terenzio says he, too, was offered a Fisher interview back in August for $ 100,000. He says he turned it down because he didn't want to pay a convicted felon or someone he believed might be a felon. An agent representing Fisher also said "A Current Affair" would not have to pay Fisher but KLM, which in turn would pay Fisher.

"That's just nuance," says Terenzio. He adds that other magazine shows that take the deal risk losing their journalistic and ethical standards: "If King World paid someone - directly or indirectly - I'd find that unconscionable."

Given the nature of their subject matter, tabloid shows are often mired in controversy. Often the blame lies with the shows.

For instance, the tone of a "Hard Copy" piece on shock jock Howard Sternpoints to the direction the show is taking. On-air reporter Doug Bruckner told viewers that Stem had ducked an interview with segment director Audrey Lavin, noting, with condescension in his voice, "The big bully ran away, simply slithering into his studio." Later on in the program, he intoned: "Howard Stern has disgraced the cover of national magazines." Even "Hard Copy" anchor Terry Murphy grew weary by the end of the piece: "I think we all need a break," he said.

But all this is not necessarily bad for business. Hit list - shows that special interest groups want advertisers to boycott - still exist, but tabloid shows, on the whole, are a bit more accepted these days, says Allison Bodenmann, senior vice president and director of national broadcast at Jordan, McGrath, Case & Taylor. "There is so much of the stuff; it's kind of watered down. Is (Hard Copy' any worse than (A Current Affair' or (Inside Edition?' Probably not."

Paramount Television's barter sales company, Premier Advertiser Sales, hasn't seen much change on the part of advertisers either, says Marc Hirsch, president of Premier. "Are there days that it (Hard Copy' goes over?" asks Hirsch. "Yes. Absolutely. I don't think we went over the line with Amy Fisher. But when you go to the edge - and the show is designed to go to the edge - on rare occasions you are going to go over."

"We have a couple of clients that don't want to be in it," says Gary Carr, senior vice president and manager of national broadcast at Lintas:New York. "Some people don't care. They the shows aren't all that bad."

"I have had no clients that say we don't love it or hate it," says Karen Agresti, vice president and associate media director at Boston-based Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, who buys the show locally for clients. "I think it's a non-issue. Let's be serious. You can run in late news and be stuck next to something." Agresti points out that network shows like "20/20" or "48 Hours" can be controversial as well.

Premier sells "Hard Copy" in packages with Paramount's other major programs such as "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "The Arsenio Hall Show." But "Hard Copy," through its longevity in the market, has established its own identity with advertisers.

"Last year, or the one before, we had a pretty big deal with Premier," says Bodenmann, "but they didn't even submit (Hard Copy.'" Premier, like other TV programmers, tries to package weaker shows with stronger fare to move all its inventory. "I would think if they were having a tough time selling it packaging would be the natural way to go," says Bodenmann. JMC&T would be a natural target: Bodenmann buys a lot of time on "Hard Copy" competitor "A Current Affair."

Though its ratings are not as high as other magazine shows, "Hard Copy" makes money. Sources estimate that for the '90-'92 season, the tabloid show pulled in about $ 11 million a year in ad sales, and possibly another $ 10 million from cash license fees from stations. With annual production costs of $ 15-17 million, these numbers mean a gross profit of $ 4-6 million.

"Hard Copy" sells for around $ 20,000 for a national barter unit, sources say. "Hard Copy" and the other magazine shows sell for a $ 11-13 CPM for the women age 18-49 demographic. But because of hit-list problems, its supply of advertisers is limited, and that drives down the price. "For a show like (A Current Affair' that can do an eight rating, it should be priced over $ 15 CPM for women 18-49 ," says an advertising source. "They are sold, but they don't get the rush of advertisers."

Station general managers air "Hard Copy" because, in spite of some hit-list concerns, its ratings are healthy. "When it first came out it was so controversial, it was hit listed on half the buys that came on down," says Weldon Donaldson, general sales manager at KFMB-TV in San Diego. "You rarely hear about it now. Now, I say, (Hard Copy' may be hit listed on 10-15 percent of the buys."

While "Hard Copy" may be a work-horse for some stations, others thought they could do better this past year. Some picked up the highly touted Carsey-Werner Distribution's Bill Cosby-hosted "You Bet Your Life," and "Hard Copy was hit with some time-period downgrades. KDFW-TV in Dallas, for example, removed "Hard Copy" from prime access at 7:30 p.m. and moved it to 10:30, a slightly less desirable time slot. But advertiser resistance wasn't what forced the move.

"We were always sold out of (Hard Copy' despite that fact there is a long list of clients that won't buy it" says Jeff Rosser, vice president and general manager at KDFW-TV.

The new Cosby show, meanwhile, has been struggling. In Dallas, for instance, for the week of Oct. 5, "You Bet" posted a Nielsen NSI 6.7/12, while "Hard Copy" in Oct. 1991 earned an 8/ 15. "We have suffered slight declines," says Rosser. " That happens anytime you make some programming changes."

WCBS-TV in New York also replaced "Hard Copy" in access with "You Bet Your Life." Again, the new show isn't doing as well as "Hard Copy" did the year before. And again, advertiser resistance wasn't the reason for the move. "That's not a issue for us," says Bud Carey, vice president and general manager at WCBS-TV.

Carey has no complaints about the newsgathering efforts of the show. "Every time I have checked into the journalism, I find it to be very solid," he says. "For instance, the Amy Fisher story was a solid piece of reporting done in a low-key manner. My biggest concern is not the program, but the content for the promotion of the program, which in reality more people see."

Amy Fisher did spike the ratings - but it didn't last long and it wasn't widespread. In New York, where WCBS normally gets four and five ratings, it posted sevens for the Fisher reports. Sources now say that "Hard Copy" will make a return to access at 7 p.m. on WCBS-TV come this January. This will push out the weary, "You Bet Your Life," which has been in a slow death spiral on the station.

Currently, the extra press hasn't lifted "Hard Copy" to new ratings heights, according to a recent report by J. Walter Thompson. "Among returning shows, (The Cosby Show' and (Hard Copy' have exhibited the most significant declines." It also notes that "A Current Affair" lost some ground, while "Inside Edition" posted large gains.

After four weeks of the new season, JWT says "Hard Copy" was off 13 percent in household ratings to a Nielsen NSS 4.6. But that's not the worst of it Key demos are off. Adults 18-49 have dropped 19 percent to a 2.2. Women 25-54 have sunk 18 percent to a 2.8.

Still the show's CPMs during the upfront rose 3-5 percent. So, even if the ratings trend continues for the year, it could still match total advertising sales of last season. Paramount, however, thinks there'll be an improvement because of the show's return in access on WCBS.

In a memo to its sales staff, Paramount touts the "program's internal strength." That is the performance in markets where it has remained in the same time period and on the same station, year to year. Still, long before the "You Bet" situation, Paramount needed damage control.

You have to look at the overall trend, like the stories on bikini contests and topless car washes," says Jim Curtin, vice president and director of programming at Harrington Righter Parsons. "Last February, every show seemed to have that."

In response, Paramount tried to reposition the show to note its tender side. In a four-page trade ad, large-type headlines proclaimed, with accompanying explanations, "warm copy," "soft copy, "bold copy" and then "hard copy." At the same time, the Amy Fisher story hit That seemed to send a mixed message.

"There is no way we could have planned the Amy Fisher story," says Frank Kelly, president of creative affairs and first-run programming at Paramount Pictures Domestic Television. "The ad was simply put in to point out to people that, sure, there are Amy Fisher stories and there are lot of stories that are sensational but (Hard Copy' has a lot of stories as well that don't get the attention."

For instance, Kelly says, there are stories on missing kids aired every Monday. One "Hard Copy" reporter, Eames Yates, does offbeat stories on small-town personalities. "Hard Copy" even does lost puppy stories, according to Kelly. "Bluntly, the other kind of stories get A) more attention and B) a lot more ratings," Kelly says.

Still, the image of "Hard Copy" doesn't go away so easily. At the end of the week, the show regularly reviews some lead items in tabloid newspapers and celebrity magazines that might strike the viewer's fancy. On a recent Friday night, anchor Terry Murphy recounted viewers a National Enquirer story about actress Darryl Hannah being beaten up by her boyfriend, rock star Jackson Browne, and about Jeanne Dixon's celebrity predictions in The Star. With tongue firmly in cheek, Murphy asked disdainfully at the close of the segment: "I wonder where they find some of those stories?"