Clinton attacks media

Bill Clinton says TV shows are over-exposed by the US media

Former US president Bill Clinton has attacked the country's media for covering TV programmes like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in preference to worldwide political issues.

I gave speeches while president on topics like climate change until I was blue in the face, but they were not deemed newsworthy by you

Bill Clinton

Mr Clinton, speaking at a New York conference backed by media trade journal Variety, said he found 24,520 news stories about the quiz show, compared with 8,335 pieces on his global debt relief initiative, launched in 1999.

"The American people need to know, care and understand more about what happens beyond our borders, and it simply can't happen without the press," he told the Front Row conference, aimed at media executives as well as Wall Street analysts and investors.

He added that 12,476 stories were written about the reality TV hit Survivor compared with 2,567 about the spread of Aids in the former Soviet Union, and that only stories about war seemed to interest editors and broadcasters.

Not newsworthy

"I gave speeches while president on topics like climate change until I was blue in the face, but they were not deemed newsworthy by you," he said.

Mr Clinton also said he had no plans for a Hollywood career

Mr Clinton, who left office after eight years last month, said the US media should cover subjects such as global warming, Aids, poverty and illiteracy, and make them relevant to the American public.

A recent New York Times feature about how Brazil had managed to reduce its HIV infection rate was an example of how journalism could inform people and help them change public policy, he said.

"I can't answer for the pressures you're under, and believe it or not, I can sympathise," he said.

"There may be more tools to entertain, but you also have more tools to inform than ever before."

No Hollywood career

I'm a moviegoer, not a moviemaker

Bill Clinton

It had been rumoured Mr Clinton would use the speech to signal his interest in a career in Hollywood, notably with the DreamWorks studio, co-owned by Steven Spielberg.

But the 54-year-old told reporters after the speech: "I'm a moviegoer, not a moviemaker."

Meanwhile, the chief executive of CBS has confirmed he spoke to Mr Clinton while he was in office about two friends of the president whose series had been cancelled before it was broadcast.

Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who made a film about Mr Clinton in 1992, were paid around $1m in compensation after The Good Life was pulled by CBS.

Leslie Moonves confirmed he had spoken to Mr Clinton about the matter, but said: "He is a freind of mine. No business decision has ever been made on the basis of a conversation with him."