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.
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God, I hope you're right. At least half the American people believe them. I want to scream every time I hear that it is Bush policies that have fueled the insurgencies and upped terrorist recruitment. It is NOT! It is the Dems and the lib media who are responsible for that. They have emboldened and encouraged them.
"Imagine if Bush tried anything like this? The WH press corps would beat Tony Snow to death."
It should be rewritten as a letter to Al Franken and Air America, but signed by Bush. As a parody of course. But what could they say???
In fact, why not email Air America with this fake letter and see how the Democrats howl at "intimidation".
Just when you thought the senate Democrats couldn't get any dumber, they hand a gift to Republicans. God Bless'em LOL
Re: Berger's "stuffiness" ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1697088/posts?page=58#58
If the Rats are successful in quelling this freedom of speech because they think Clinton's legacy will suffer then America has truly gone to the dogs.
LOL! Yeah, riiiiiight.
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Dems eat their own.
That is Clintoon's legacy, playing the sax while plots are brewing to bomb the African embassies, Khobar Towers, the USS Cole, the WTC, the Pentagon and much more. Maybe even the CYA op's of Oklahoma City and flight 800.
Returning to that sense of security scares me to death.
They love it when it's from Michael Moore, Al Franken, Barbara Streisand,etc. You get the picture.
I can just see Hitlary's staff now, busily shuffling through all those thousands of her stolen FBI files to get the dirt on anyone who dares to cross the Evil One's party.
The Cover Up Continues
http://www.texasrainmaker.com/2006/09/07/the-cover-up-continues/
I think if most Americans find out about this, and that's a big "IF", there will be all hell to pay! Most Americans don't take it well when you threaten "the Mouse"!! I wonder what Walt Disney would say?
I wonder what Walt Disney would say?
Well... It wouldn't be repeatable in front of the children.
What with the release of the assasination movie and now this, I think they have pretty much assured us of a GOP majority in Congress after election day. I truly don't feel the majority of voters are stupid enough to vote these guys back in power AND these antics just help to get out the conservative vote.
"When was the last time you saw a video from Bin Laden? He's dead and buried under tons of rubble somewhere in Afghanistan. October of the 2004 would have been the PERFECT time to politically defeat Bush ... and he never showed.
He's gone man."
I doubt that very much. We read over and over here on FR that bin Laden was dead, that Saddam was dead. And later found out it was not so.
So I'll put your claim in that group, unless you have real proof.
"The Democrats "invented" the "if you see it or hear it on TV enough, it must be the truth" attack and now it's going to bite them in the big fat butt."
This is truly PRICELESS!!!!!
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