HOLLYWOOD: singing senseless songs to the mindless

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BLITZER: And up next, the Bush administration opens a new front in 
the way against terrorism. This time it's Hollywood. We'll talk to 
two key players in that effort when LATE EDITION returns. Stay with 
us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

President Bush's political adviser Karl Rove and other administration 
officials are meeting with Hollywood executives in California today 
to talk about the ways television and the film industry can assist in 
the war on terrorism.

Earlier today, I spoke with two participants, Mark McKinnon, a Bush 
Media adviser, and Bryce Zabel, the chief executive officer of the 
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Mark McKinnon and Bryce Zabel, thanks for joining us. 
Appreciate it, just before this big meeting you're having out there.

Let me begin with you, Mark. Tell us precisely what President Bush 
wants Hollywood to do in this war on terrorism?

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER BUSH MEDIA ADVISER: Well, we want to make one 
thing very clear, and that is that this is not a government- directed 
effort. It may be Washington-inspired.

But since September 11, we've have had an incredible outpouring of 
support from the Hollywood community, people who want to help, and 
we'd like for them to be able to help, if and where it's appropriate.

So there's been a dialogue established. And a couple of weeks ago, we 
had an initial meeting. This is a follow-up meeting to talk about 
some specific ideas. But it's really a brainstorming session, where 
we'll lay out thoughts. We expect to hear some thoughts from the 
creative and entertainment community.

But it's, really, as Bryce here said, this is really kind of a band 
of brothers. It's not Big Brother. This is not intended to be any 
sort of a propaganda machine. We're not dictating anything to 
anybody, but we really welcome the support.

BLITZER: Well, let me go to Bryce and ask him, specifically, the 
letter that the White House faxed to several of you, major Hollywood 
executives, among other things, it said this: It said, "The 
anticipated outcome of the meeting would be an initial plan 
encompassing several substantive ways we can lend support to our 
nation's cause."

What do you see -- how do you see the role that Hollywood will play 
in this war on terrorism?

BRYCE ZABEL, ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES: Well, Wolf, I 
was at that first meeting a few weeks ago, and I think there was some 
frustration in that there was a desire to feel more of a sense of 
whatever the mission was going to be, whatever specifics would be. So 
we look forward to hearing from Karl Rove today about some of his 
thoughts.

I think, actually, a lot of what we're talking about is going to be 
driven by the spirit of volunteerism.

You probably know I have just gotten through staging the Emmys after 
three tries. We opened up the Emmys with a trumpeter playing "God 
Bless America" and the American flag. Karl Rove or Mark here didn't 
call us and ask us to do that. We did that because we thought it was 
the appropriate choice.

So I think we'll be talking about some of the things that might work 
and might not work for the various parties.

MCKINNON: If I could just jump in. A lot of what we're trying do is 
create a dialogue, and so that, when people want to help, they know 
who to call in government and government knows who to call in 
Hollywood.

A good example was when Bryce was dealing with the Emmys, and it was 
initially an idea that we might let the military installation to do 
that. So Bryce knew who to call and we knew who to call to help try 
and get that done. As it happened, we didn't choose that option, but 
at least we know who to talk to.

BLITZER: But is the...

ZABEL: That's going to be very important in future.

BLITZER: Let me ask both of you, is the message that you're trying to 
get out a message to influence domestic American public opinion or to 
influence the international community, including people in the Muslim 
world and the Arab world out there?

Let me begin with you, Mark. Who is your target audience right now?

MCKINNON: Well, one thing that we recognize is that the Hollywood 
community is a huge pipeline of the world. And, you know, our 
greatest export is entertainment in this country, and Hollywood is 
our greatest exporter.

But there's an international audience, there's a domestic audience. 
There are various audiences that we're looking at, and that's a lot 
of what our discussion will be about today.

We're obviously interested in enhancing our public support and 
maintaining that public support domestically, but we also want to 
make sure that democracies in Europe know what our message is and 
that we continue to define what this war is about, why we're 
fighting, who we're fighting, and also to do what we can in other 
countries, as well.

BLITZER: Is that is your understanding, Bryce, as well?

ZABEL: Well, I think, actually, the answer is probably both.

Obviously, the American public doesn't lack for communications. We 
are the most communicated-with population in world history. So in 
terms of just getting information to public, that's being done right 
now through CNN and all the other media outlets out there.

The question would be, every day the Hollywood community puts 
messages out, through film and television, and I think we should 
probably all take a look what those messages mean to the world and 
talk about whether, included in that mix, are some that are, perhaps, 
more explanatory of what the American message really is at this time.

I will say this, Wolf. I represent 11,000 people in the academy who 
range from directors and writers all the way down to hair dressers 
and costume designers. And I've received a number of phone calls and 
e-mails from people who say, what can I do to help, how can I be 
involved in doing anything to help my country get their message out 
to the rest of the world or even to the rest of Americans?

BLITZER: You know, Mark, Jack Valenti, who is the head of the Motion 
Picture Association of America, was CNN earlier in the week. He saw 
the role of Hollywood in this war in a specific way. I want you to 
listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK VALENTI, HEAD OF THE MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION: What I'm saying 
to you is the power of the movie and the movie star to impress 
people, to entice them, in their alluring manner, can be very helpful 
in trying to persuade them that we are not their enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, clearly, his message out there was to the Muslim world, 
the Arab world, people around the world, who may not see the 
situation as clear-cut as most Americans of course do.

MCKINNON: Well, no question about it. I mean, to the extent, as Jack 
said, we -- you know, the things that we often talk about in American 
media are about freedom and democracy and tolerance. And it's no 
wonder that some of those closest aides want to shut down and keep 
out American media.

The reason they want to do this is they don't want to show their 
people what they don't have. And what they don't have is freedom. 
What they don't have is tolerance. What they don't have is multiple 
religious experiences available to their culture. So that's why they 
want to shut it out, and that's why we want to get it in.

ZABEL: Wolf, if I could react to what Jack said, for a moment. Jack 
represents the film industry, and I think he's got the right message, 
but it's a larger message than that.

The television industry has certainly shown that it is a quick 
reaction force, if nothing else. Following the September 11 
atrocities, it took exactly four days for the television industry to 
get the Tribute to Heroes on the air and to roadblock it across all 
the networks and other cable outlets to respond quickly to that. 
Obviously, that ability is going to be important in the future, as 
well. And also, if you think about it, television programs are as 
widely distributed as are films, and they can be turned around 
faster. Take a look at what Aaron Sorkin did with the West Wing in 
his episode not so long ago.

So I think it's really going to be a mixture of media.

MCKINNON: Yes. I think there's no -- it's really been -- it's been a 
real inspiration what the entertainment community has done to date.

And it's interesting, as you look back historically, in fact, what 
happened in World War II is, the entertainment community was way out 
ahead of the government. They came out several years before there 
were really significant government programs.

So, the entertainment community is already flourishing, as far as 
this effort goes.

ZABEL: And in fact President Bush's own grandfather led the way.

MCKINNON: That's right.

BLITZER: There were some very creative public service announcements 
that Mayor Giuliani released in New York City earlier this week. You 
probably saw them. They've received wide publicity, already using 
some well-known personalities. Let me play a quick snippet of some of 
those PSAs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA WALTERS: (SINGING)

DIRECTOR: Next!

WALTERS: I could do something from "Cats."

DIRECTOR: That's nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOODY ALLEN, DIRECTOR: You're not going to believe this, that was the 
first time I put on ice skates in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Everyone has a New York dream. Come find yours.

MAYOR RUDY GIULIANI, NEW YORK CITY: The New York miracle, be a part of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Bryce, are you planning on doing a lot of 
those PSAs but on a bigger scale now? Is that what you think the 
White House would like you to do?

ZABEL: Well, I'm sure the PSAs may be part of it, but frankly, if the 
government wants PSAs, they can commission them, as they've done for 
tobacco ads -- or anti-tobacco ads.

I mean, I sat down this week, and knowing about this meeting, and 
generated some ideas of my own, just to stimulate discussion about 
features and television series and Internet examples and specials and 
so forth, and I came up with about 20 ideas, just yesterday.

So I think that we're really talking about a broad spectrum of things 
that goes away beyond PSAs or short films or anything.

MCKINNON: Yes, that's a great example. I mean, there is such a 
spectrum of entertainment options out there. And we're looking 
forward to -- we have some ideas of our own that Karl will lay out. 
But as Bryce just said, these are the people who do this for a 
living, these are the guys who understand real creative content. And 
if Bryce can think of 20 ideas just yesterday, imagine what this room 
of titans of this industry can think of, you know, in a month.

BLITZER: All right. Looks like a new alliance is being forged, the 
Bush White House and Hollywood, who would have thought? But let's see 
what happens. Good luck in your meetings out in Hollywood today.

Appreciate both of you joining us.

MCKINNON: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And from Hollywood to ground zero in New York City. I want 
to show you a live picture of a ceremony that's taking place right 
now at ground zero, what once was, of course, the site of the World 
Trade Center.

The actor Ron Silver is reading some 86 names of countries and 
regions, people who were lost from those countries and regions during 
the attack at the World Trade Center.

Let's listen in briefly.

RON SILVER, ACTOR: Australia, Austria.

Bangladesh, Barbados.

Belarus, Belgium.

Belize, Bolivia.

Brazil, Canada.

BLITZER: Ron Silver, the actor, reading the names alphabetically of 
some 86 countries...

SILVER: Chile, China.

BLITZER: ... and regions that lost individuals at the World Trade 
Center bombing on September 11. President Bush -- you can see his 
back -- there with other world leaders. They are not expected to 
speak. A ceremony underscoring the international nature...

SILVER: Colombia, the Czech Republic.

BLITZER: ... of the attack on September 11.

We'll have more of this ceremony later. We're going to take a quick 
break. We'll also speak to a former Clinton administration official 
who met some two dozen times with Taliban officials. Stay with us.

SILVER: Dominica, Dominican Republic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)