Posted on 09/07/2006 4:12:34 PM PDT by Mo1
Senate Democratic leadership threatens Disney with legal and legislative sanctions
by John in DC - 9/07/2006 06:02:00 PM
Read it, then read my analysis of it below:September 7, 2006
The Senate Democratic leadership just threatened Disney's broadcast license. Not the use of the word "trustee" at the beginning of the letter and "trust" at the end. This is nothing less than an implicit threat that if Disney tries to meddle in the US elections on behalf of the Republicans, they will pay a very serious price when the Democrats get back in power, or even before.
Mr. Robert A. Iger
President and CEO
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank CA 91521
Dear Mr. Iger,
We write with serious concerns about the planned upcoming broadcast of The Path to 9/11 mini-series on September 10 and 11. Countless reports from experts on 9/11 who have viewed the program indicate numerous and serious inaccuracies that will undoubtedly serve to misinform the American people about the tragic events surrounding the terrible attacks of that day. Furthermore, the manner in which this program has been developed, funded, and advertised suggests a partisan bent unbecoming of a major company like Disney and a major and well respected news organization like ABC. We therefore urge you to cancel this broadcast to cease Disney’s plans to use it as a teaching tool in schools across America through Scholastic. Presenting such deeply flawed and factually inaccurate misinformation to the American public and to children would be a gross miscarriage of your corporate and civic responsibility to the law, to your shareholders, and to the nation.
The Communications Act of 1934 provides your network with a free broadcast license predicated on the fundamental understanding of your principle obligation to act as a trustee of the public airwaves in serving the public interest. Nowhere is this public interest obligation more apparent than in the duty of broadcasters to serve the civic needs of a democracy by promoting an open and accurate discussion of political ideas and events.
Disney and ABC claim this program to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report and are using that assertion as part of the promotional campaign for it. The 9/11 Commission is the most respected American authority on the 9/11 attacks, and association with it carries a special responsibility. Indeed, the very events themselves on 9/11, so tragic as they were, demand extreme care by any who attempt to use those events as part of an entertainment or educational program. To quote Steve McPhereson, president of ABC Entertainment, “When you take on the responsibility of telling the story behind such an important event, it is absolutely critical that you get it right.”
Unfortunately, it appears Disney and ABC got it totally wrong.
Despite claims by your network’s representatives that The Path to 9/11 is based on the report of the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commissioners themselves, as well as other experts on the issues, disagree.
Richard Ben-Veniste, speaking for himself and fellow 9/11 Commissioners who recently viewed the program, said, “As we were watching, we were trying to think how they could have misinterpreted the 9/11 Commission’s findings the way that they had.” [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]
Richard Clarke, the former counter-terrorism czar, and a national security advisor to ABC has described the program as “deeply flawed” and said of the program’s depiction of a Clinton official hanging up on an intelligence agent, “It’s 180 degrees from what happened.” [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]
Reports suggest that an FBI agent who worked on 9/11 and served as a consultant to ABC on this program quit halfway through because, “he thought they were making things up.” [MSNBC, September 7, 2006]
Even Thomas Kean, who serves as a paid consultant to the miniseries, has admitted that scenes in the film are fictionalized. [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]
That Disney would seek to broadcast an admittedly and proven false recounting of the events of 9/11 raises serious questions about the motivations of its creators and those who approved the deeply flawed program. Finally, that Disney plans to air commercial-free a program that reportedly cost it $40 million to produce serves to add fuel to these concerns.
These concerns are made all the more pressing by the political leaning of and the public statements made by the writer/producer of this miniseries, Mr. Cyrus Nowrasteh, in promoting this miniseries across conservative blogs and talk shows.
Frankly, that ABC and Disney would consider airing a program that could be construed as right-wing political propaganda on such a grave and important event involving the security of our nation is a discredit both to the Disney brand and to the legacy of honesty built at ABC by honorable individuals from David Brinkley to Peter Jennings. Furthermore, that Disney would seek to use Scholastic to promote this misguided programming to American children as a substitute for factual information is a disgrace.
As 9/11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick said, “It is critically important to the safety of our nation that our citizens, and particularly our school children, understand what actually happened and why – so that we can proceed from a common understanding of what went wrong and act with unity to make our country safer.”
Should Disney allow this programming to proceed as planned, the factual record, millions of viewers, countless schoolchildren, and the reputation of Disney as a corporation worthy of the trust of the American people and the United States Congress will be deeply damaged. We urge you, after full consideration of the facts, to uphold your responsibilities as a respected member of American society and as a beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves to cancel this factually inaccurate and deeply misguided program. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Sincerely,
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Byron Dorgan
This raises the stakes incredibly for Disney.
Don't forget Sleepy, Grumpy & Doc! =)
LOL....probably a good idea.
The dims have all wet their pants and they don't know what to do.
bttt
Thank you for pointing this out. This has been a subtle change made by the RATS that I've commented on before.
The leader of the "out of power" party has been called the Minority Leader in the House and the Senate for as long as I can remember. But being out of power, especially the Presidency, has driven the RATS into a blind rage. I guess the word "Minority" was really grinding on them so they changed it.
Reid is now the Senate Democratic Leader and Pelosi is the House Democratic Leader.
Clever, huh?
They both are and, the Good Lord willing, will continue to be MINORITY Leaders.
"SIC EM' PLUTO" LOL;0)
So,. Now what do we do? What is our recourse?
My God, that letter is the most chilling attack on free speech I've ever seen.
.
9/11 SCREENWRITER...
coming up right now on
http://www.KFI640.com
(live streaming of the JOHN ZIEGLER Talk Radio Show)
.
do I sense speech censorship? oh boy.. Dems have really hit the deep end.
That's quite probably accurate. But anybody who thinks that "letting the chips fall where they may" when it comes to anything that might make Clinturd appear in a negative light, simply doesn't know the bottom-feeding defensive and calculating pondscum that is Clinton and his band of Clintonistas, nor to they know today's Democrat Party.
There aren't upwards of 32 unexplained deaths associated with Bill Clinton for no reason.
Senate Democratic Leadership Urges Disney CEO to Cancel Misleading 9/11 Miniseries
9/7/2006 6:10:00 PM
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=71989
And let's not forget that USNewswire is the ultimate media whoring outfit. They'll publish anything for you if you have the bucks.
In other words, since this is not legitimate "news," the RATS had to resort to paying to broadcast their lies. I hope it cost them a bundle!
PS, as an old network newsie, I can tell you that your analysis is completely correct, and I never saw anyhting like it in 30 years as a reporter.
I'm not remember the ad you are referring to. Sounds like a funny sequel though!
where was the Democrat leadership when Moore filmed Fahrenheit? hhhmmmm!!???
anyone remember Fahrenheit 911????? no censorship was seeked there.. in fact all the dummies recommended people go watch it..
Moi? I didn't do much!
As a wife of an ABC/Disney employee, I'm more than hesitant to email Bob Iger. But I did send nasty-grams to Reid et al. Unfortunately I don't have any Republican senators, RINO or otherwise, to appeal to... but tomorrow I plan to bombard Replublican senators from all states, after I assess the situation a bit.
One day, and until then he's marginalized and is hanging out in some cave.
Let him go, eh? rolling eyes!
Notice the indirect swipe at our military in that dem opperative's comment.
Thanks a mil for that heads-up... I want to hear this!
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