CBS News Isn't That Worried About Virtual Images.

EVERY modem media consumer of post-Pokeman age knows you can't believe everything you see on a screen.

Computer-generated special effects can make aliens fly, drop dinosaurs into a modern city and bring dead actors to life for the high purpose of selling beer.

News programs, though, are supposed to represent the last bastion of on-screen reality. Though the anchors might seem more plastic than flesh, the footage is presented as actual reality -- clipped and pulled out of context, perhaps, but real all the same.

Not anymore. On CBS News, at least, virtual reality has started to horn in on the real thing.

CBS, like other networks, hosted its New Year's Eve coverage from a perch above Times Square in New York. But the show's producers weren't thrilled with one particular element of the backdrop: the giant NBC Astrovision screen directly beneath the ball that dropped at midnight.

So instead of turning the camera in another direction, they created the backdrop they really wanted. Using digital imaging technology, they inserted what looked like a giant billboard for CBS News over NBC's screen and an adjacent Budweiser ad.

More important than that, though, was what they didn't do: tell anyone about it.

Everyone who watched CBS's coverage that night was left to believe that a giant CBS billboard was hanging over Times Square as the new millennium began. The truth didn't emerge until The New York Times reported the deception two weeks later.

Ethical implications

CBS News anchor Dan Rather apologized for the incident, telling the Times that he "did not grasp the possible ethical implications of this." But his employers were less repentant, saying they may well pull similar stunts during future newscasts.

"We will look at this technology on a case-by-case basis," CBS spokesman Sandy Genelius told me. "With every new technology that comes along, there are new issues to be discussed."

Before using this technology again, Genelius said, CBS executives would ask: "Is it tainting or in any way affecting the news delivered in the broadcast? Is it terribly misleading to viewers?"

Walt a minute, I asked: CBS News is only worried about being "terribly" misleading? "If it's misleading to viewers," she said. "Let me rephrase that."

Of course, that's the problem: CBS can rephrase anything it wants -- including video. If the network's executives have dropped their ethical bar low enough to allow tampering with actual footage, CBS viewers will have to take their news with a grain of salt and a glossy layer of virtual varnish.

The New Year's Eve trick was pulled off with software from Princeton Video Image that can insert computer-aided illusions in all sorts of footage. Princeton is responsible for the virtual first-down line on CBS football broadcasts. The yellow stripe seems painted on the field until the offense gets a first down, when it magically moves downfield. Similar technology has been used to place virtual ads on soccer fields, racetracks and baseball fields.

Inserting virtual objects

The software also can insert objects into sitcoms, soap operas and other taped shows. An episode of UPN's "7 Days" that aired last year featured virtual objects, including a Wells Fargo sign and an Evian bottle, that weren't on the set when the show was taped. Alas, Princeton hasn't figured out a way to insert a quality script or good acting. But I'm sure they're working on it.

Bill Jarr, executive director of broadcasting for Princeton, said the deception made possible by his company's software simply improves on the sleight of hand broadcasters have employed for years.

"People have been using virtual sets for a long time," Jarr said, describing the "blue-screen" technology used to create weather maps and other false backgrounds. "The only difference here is the quality of the technology.

That technology will only get better. It won't be long before news crews can edit distracting elements out of busy footage, modify potentially offensive gestures seen in a crowd or insert people at news scenes -- perhaps people wearing CBS News T-shirts.

If broadcasters insist on using such trickery, the least they can do is tell us about it. Newspapers and other reputable news publications inform readers when their use of digital imaging software transforms photos into "photo illustrations." TV news programs should adopt a similar standard if they hope to retain any credibility with their steadily dwindling ranks of viewers.

If CBS News believes reality isn't quite ready for prime time, it should disclose that attitude to its viewers. But the network should prepare for viewers coming to that same conclusion about its news judgement.