• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 1, 2005

Finally I can dream about whiskey while watching news reports of car bombs exploding in Baghdad.

Or of bourbon while watching reports of Barry Bonds and steroids.

Or of Cristal while ruminating over whether Chris Rock's host material at the Oscars was somewhat tame.

Mostly, I'll be watching CNN and thinking: vodka. According to The New York Times, CNN will become the first national cable television news network to accept commercials for distilled spirits. Grey Goose vodka is running a schedule on the network.

CNN joins a list of other advertisers including BET, Bloomberg, Bravo, E!, FX, Fox Sports, Golf Channel, Spike TV, Sci-Fi Channel, Style, USA, and VH1. But The New York Times missed one important cable network -- the Outdoor Life Network (OLN).

Some years ago OLN broke new ground by not only airing spirits advertising commercials for a network which airs fitness-oriented sports, but for airing a boozy commercial during an early morning live European professional cycling race.

This makes perfect sense to me - though I start my drinking a bit later in the morning.

Many cycling journalists already suspect professional cyclists of taking drugs to help improve performance or heal road wounds. This one spirits advertiser must have worked on the same theory.

CNN has a different logic. Its news audiences are by definition mostly older viewers, 25 to 54 or 35 to 64. And that means no one can criticize them of targeting under-age drinkers, since TV news is at the bottom of teens preferred TV viewing lists. Though CNN is going for the gusto, Fox News, CNBC, and MSNBC won't be tipping their glasses.

With that in mind, the broadcast networks - which have long-held an abstinence from alcohol advertising (save that of a brief moment in 2002 for NBC with "Saturday Night Live") - should follow CNN's lead.

The broadcast networks early evening news shows attract a similar older audience to CNN. How can you tell? Look at all that pharmaceutical advertising on those shows; it targets older viewers with those long-lasting pain-relieving medicines. Alcohol, of course, is the next blissful step.

Early evening news shows won't have to worry about the moral police attacking; no worries about spirit advertising corrupting anyone under, say, 42 years of age on any news show.

And, during the early evening hours, teens have just finished watching "TRL" on MTV, only drunk with delight over a Jay-Z video.

So here's to Rather, Williams, and Jennings: Drink up, news hounds!