What complicates the issue for some is the very nature of docudrama - a debased genre that includes wholesale invention and what Thompson called "pure dish." Networks have become so brazen in ignoring any journalistic or historical concerns of accuracy that some analysts see it as significant that CBS finally admitted there was a line and that The Reagans crossed it.
"I do find it offensive that important points of our national history are totally rewritten in such docudramas to serve entertainment values intended to appeal to the lowest common denominator," said Phil Seib, media historian and Lucius W. Nieman professor of journalism at Marquette University.
"So, you have to legitimately ask yourself whether this could be interpreted as a victory for history and taste. If it is, though, it would be a rare one when it comes to network television and our national past. And it does raise serious concerns that such pressure was mounted and the film was pulled without anyone outside of CBS seeing it."
The controversy started last month when CBS sent a cassette with selected "highlights" from the miniseries to critics. Portions of the script were also selectively leaked. The highlights showed Nancy Reagan portrayed as a modern-day Lady Macbeth, manipulating her husband and scheming backstage to run the White House. Reagan was portrayed as mean-spirited and often befuddled.
The portion of the script that has drawn the most fire involved a portrayal of Reagan as being utterly insensitive to those suffering from AIDS. When Nancy tries to enlist his aid in fighting the emerging epidemic, the script has Reagan replying, "They that live in sin, shall die in sin."
In the highlight reel, Reagan is also shown approving the sale of arms to Iran in 1984 during a moment of dementia when he fails to even recognize the national security aide to whom he is speaking. Brent Baker, vice president of the Media Research Center, yesterday cited that depiction as the kind of questionable history that so troubled his organization. ***