Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 16, 1993                   TAG: 9312160072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CONSERVATIVE NETWORK IS `C-SPAN WITH AN ATTITUDE'

They're still complaining, but now they have a network of their own on which to do it: the 24-hour-a-day National Empowerment Television, which began operations in Washington last week.

Tune in to NET, and you'll find programs hosted by conservatives such as Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and columnist Robert Novak. You'll find morning show hosts who, after completing their TV duties, go off to work at conservative think tanks. And you'll find programs sponsored by libertarians, right-to-life organizations and self-styled pro-family groups.

"We are going to approach everything that government does with great skepticism," says Paul Weyrich, a longtime conservative activist who is NET's founder, president and top programmer, as well as host of his own daily show.

NET calls itself "C-SPAN with an attitude." Weyrich says he wants to reach not only those on the right but disaffected Democrats, followers of Ross Perot, supporters of term limits and anyone else who worries that establishment Washington has lost touch with the rest of America.

So far, NET is mostly available to satellite dish owners. The network is being given away to cable systems, but only a few have agreed to carry it. But its backers believe that they soon will be able to expand the network's reach, so that voices from the hinterlands can have political impact.

"We're trying to turn the megaphone around, and get the rest of the country talking to Washington," Weyrich says. "Too many people who come here don't come here to do something for the country. They come here to figure out a way to stay here."

Weyrich, 51, is no outsider. He's been in Washington for 25 years, first as a Senate aide and more recently as president of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, a conservative think tank. His roots, though, are in the press - he worked in the 1960s as a radio disc jockey, newspaper reporter and TV news anchorman. "The people who populate the media, by and large, come from liberal backgrounds," he says.

Nevertheless, Weyrich says, he did not start NET because of any discontent with the news media. Rather, he tapped into the power of satellite television by producing occasional broadcasts to mobilize conservatives around such issues as the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas. He found an appetite among grass-roots activists for issue-oriented, call-in programming.

His idea for a full-service network was welcomed by groups such as Concerned Women of America, Accuracy in Media and the libertarian Cato Institute, which have bought time on NET to run their own shows. Weyrich also has raised $3 million from foundations and individuals to get the network off the ground. The single biggest backer is the North Carolina-based Brady Foundation, which gave $1 million, NET said.

NET probably won't face immediate competition from the left. The closest thing to a liberal counterpart is Deep Dish TV, a New York-based satellite program service that has produced occasional programs on such topics as the Gulf War and health care.