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The media have seen the enemy, and he is Philip Guarascio.

The general manager of marketing and advertising for General Motors Corp., Guarascio is the sort of person who prompts journalism professors to issue dire warnings about prior restraint. Working journalists, and the creators of TV programming, simply listen to people like Guarascio and shudder ? partly in resignation.

Earlier this month, Guarascio took part in a fascinating panel discussion at the annual American Association of Advertising Agencies Media Conference and Trade Show in Anaheim. He lambasted the media buyers in attendance for failing to provide adequate warning to advertisers when programming or editorial content might be considered objectionable.

“Agencies are hiding behind a rock because they are afraid,” Guarascio said. “It took me 25 years to discover this, but buyers have walked away from their responsibilities.”

GM’s advertising head believes it is the duty of media buyers to warn advertisers in advance when their ads are going to appear in a magazine, newspaper, radio broadcast or TV program whose content is controversial; that way, the advertisers can decide whether to pull their ads.

This issue has been a topic of hot debate between media and advertising executives for decades, but it seems to be taking on a new urgency in today’s environment.

Advertisers like Guarascio, for one thing, used to be content to wield their influence over content behind the scenes. Now, likely in recognition that their power is increasing, they aren’t shy about demanding a preview of editorial content.

The Wall Street Journal shook up the magazine industry last year after turning up a letter sent by Chrysler Corp. to more than 100 magazines in which the automaker placed its ads.

“In an effort to avoid potential conflicts, it is required that Chrysler Corporation be alerted in advance of any and all editorial content that encompasses sexual, political or social issues or any editorial that might be construed as provocative or offensive,” read the letter. “Each and every issue that carries Chrysler advertising requires a written summary outlining major theme/articles appearing in upcoming issues.”

Newspapers, of course, have long had standing orders to pull airline advertising in the event of an air disaster. But to most editors, the Chrysler decree was a step too far.

Magazines always have been the most vulnerable of media to this kind of pressure, because they tend to target a niche audience. Because the supply of advertisers seeking to reach that particular niche is limited, a handful of advertisers can make or break the publications.

In response to the Journal article, the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Magazine Publishers of America established a joint policy last September calling for member publications to forbid sneak peaks at stories, photos or tables of contents for advertisers. But Chrysler has no intention of backing down on its requirements, and in the face of its $270 million annual magazine ad budget, a whole lot of publishers will undoubtedly cave in to its demands.

So much for magazines. But do advance screenings affect the content we see in more general-audience media, like television? According to Caryn Mandabach, president of Studio City-based production company Carsey-Werner Co., it certainly does. And the influence of advertisers may be increasing.

“It’s like sexual harassment,” Mandabach said. “A climate has been created, and in that climate, people don’t feel free to create.”

Networks aren’t bothered much when an advertiser threatens to pull out of an established hit because of controversial content, Mandabach said. When her company’s “Roseanne” presented a lesbian kiss, more than enough advertisers jumped on board to replace those that bolted. But that doesn’t hold true for new shows; “Ellen” would never have dared come out of the closet during the first or second season.

This is becoming a major problem for the creative community, Mandabach says, because the turnover of new shows is increasing. The erosion of the TV audience means it’s harder and harder to generate a hit show, and networks show less patience with new shows before pulling the plug. That means producers are constrained from presenting anything controversial for fear it would lead to an advertiser boycott.

Further, the cable universe is making television a lot more like magazines. Niche cable channels, like magazines, target a niche audience, and thus are supported by niche advertisers, which wield a great deal of power to control the content of those channels.

“We’re dead ducks,” says Mandabach, who believes the situation will only get worse.

Media buyers generally screen network shows a day or two before they air either themselves or through a professional screening service.

“Every major advertiser pre-screens every entertainment show, and we reserve the right to pull out of any program if it’s antithetical to the business interests of the client,” said Bill Croasdale, head of the national broadcast department for L.A.-based Western International Media.

Nonetheless, advertisers don’t believe they have nearly enough power to influence content in the media. A survey released at the Anaheim conference by the Four A’s found that 94 percent of national advertisers surveyed said they want to be notified in advance of any potentially controversial editorial or program content, but only 36 percent believe they have any influence over that content.

Given the enormous influence advertisers can and do wield over TV entertainment programming and magazines, one has to wonder what they’re talking about. Many of them might be thinking of news coverage on TV and in newspapers, which is much more difficult to pre-screen, although ad sales people sometimes are known to warn clients in advance when upcoming news stories might be considered touchy.

None of this is terribly encouraging for advocates of a free press.

“Our society today reeks of the example of people who fail to live up to their professional and social responsibility, and I think we suffer greatly for it,” said Judith Marlane, chairwoman of the radio, television and film department at Cal State Northridge.

News Editor Dan Turner writes a weekly column on marketing for the Los Angeles Business Journal.

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