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Senate Democratic leadership threatens Disney with legal and legislative sanctions
americablog.blogspot.com ^ | September 07, 2006 | John in DC

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

This letter was sent today by the entire Democratic leadership of the US Senate. This letter is such a major shot across the bow of Disney, it's not even funny. It is FILLED with veiled threats, both legal and legislative, against Disney. US Senators don't make threats like this, especially the entire Democratic leadership en masse, unless they mean it. Disney is in serious trouble.

Read it, then read my analysis of it below:
September 7, 2006

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
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.

This raises the stakes incredibly for Disney.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 109th; 1stamendment; 2ndamendment; 911; abc; abcbestrong; abledanger; abuseofpower; americanhaters; antiamericanhaters; arkancide; assclowns; balsawoodliberals; benedictarnolds; bergertheftofdocs; binclintonalot; bjclinton; bluedress; boohoo; bookburners; brownshirts; callfbi; cantstandthetruth; castrolovers; censorship; cheaters; chinesecampaignmoney; clinton; clintonhitlist; clintonistas; clintonlegacy; clintonoids; communists; crimedimwitparty; crybabies; democratcensors; democratgestapo; democrats; demofascists; demosocialists; demseattheirown; dimwitscry; dimwitthreats; dirtyrats; disbarred; disney; enemywithin; fascists; fraud; freespeech; gaydaysatdisney; gestapo; gflowers; gorelickmemo; gorelickwall; gramsci; hatefuldimwits; heilhitler; hitler; impeached; intimidation; islamofascism; jfkjrkilledbyhill; jimguytucker; lawsuit; letbinladengo; liars; mao; monica; monicasdress; monicastain; mussolini; nationalsocialists; nazis; notruth; ovalofficestain; pathto911; paulajones; perjury; pinkocommies; popcorn; putsomeiceonit; rapedjuanita; repealmccainfeingold; roselawfirmrecords; sandyburglar; scumbags; sept11; september10thrats; sinkmeister; slickwillie; ss; stabenow; stalin; stalinists; thefinalsolution; thosecrazyrats; thosedirtyrats; toodangfunny; truthhurts; truthiskryptonite; unamerican; waronterror; whileclintonslept; whitewater; whokilledfoster; whokilledjfkjr; whoshotjr; wordsfailme
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To: CFC__VRWC

Rove is laughing his ass off. He doesn't even have to lift a finger.


901 posted on 09/07/2006 7:39:43 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: McGavin999
They said they were going to do a Google Bomb and if it worked they were going to use this tactic from now until the elections.

Not every googlebomber is liberal. ;)

902 posted on 09/07/2006 7:40:00 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (Property tax is feudalism. Income taxes are armed robbery of the minority by the majority.)
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To: Howlin; A Citizen Reporter; onyx; Mo1; Peach; All

I need to go to bed. I will check in first thing in the morning. Glad to see this is being picked up by National Review and such. See you tomorrow!


903 posted on 09/07/2006 7:40:08 PM PDT by Miss Marple (Lord, please look over Mozart Lover's and Jemian's sons and keep them strong.)
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To: onyx
Those 574 members who would sit out the election don't belong on this forum.

There is nothing conservative about a person who doesn't care enough about the country to keep this party of evil thugs and liars from regaining power.

It CANNOT happen!

904 posted on 09/07/2006 7:40:18 PM PDT by ohioWfan (George W. Bush - "Take his character all together, and we shall not look upon his like again.")
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To: mware

This link should work for the highlighted threats.
http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzMyNjE1N2UwZjk4ODY3MjYzYTdhNzgwMTkwZjYwMDE=


905 posted on 09/07/2006 7:40:22 PM PDT by Fudd Fan ("The purpose of the UN is to ensure that the U.S. never wins another war." -HonestConservative)
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To: mware

Can you copy the highlights with the comments?


906 posted on 09/07/2006 7:40:31 PM PDT by hoosiermama
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To: zook

It will NOT be cancelled. And I don't think it will be edited either.

The stories about ABC "tweaking" the story are likely false. You can't "tweak" something in the can without a MASSIVE effort.

I am pretty sure Disney/ABC is just telling the anti-free speech folks on the Left what they want to hear.

I didnt like the "new look" Disney with their pro-gay ways but when Eisner left I think the "traditional" -- in every sense of the word -- Disney might be back.


907 posted on 09/07/2006 7:41:12 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (the war on poverty should include health club memberships for the morbidly poor)
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To: Miss Marple

Good night, MM.
I hope you will force yourself to watch GMA and give us a report!


908 posted on 09/07/2006 7:41:13 PM PDT by onyx (1 Billion Muslims -- "if" 10% are fundamentalists, that's still 100 Million who want to kill us.)
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To: Kieri

:)


909 posted on 09/07/2006 7:41:22 PM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet-prayers for the kidnapped Israeli Soldiers)
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To: ohioWfan
but it's also political suicide, IMO. Threatening Disney? I mean, c'mon! Who in this country is going to think that's what Congressmen should be doing?

What they are doing carries no small amount of risk. We all grew up on the Disney greats, and no matter what we think of some of Disney's more recent releases and Gay Days, it's still a POWERFUL American icon.

Of course the democrats wouldn't hesitate to shoot Bambi's mother themselves if they thought it would help them politically.

910 posted on 09/07/2006 7:41:31 PM PDT by prairiebreeze (Brought to you by the American Democrat Party. aka alQaeda, Western Division.)
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To: hoosiermama

My email to Harry Reid"

"You actually signed a letter suing Disney over that 9/11 movie?

Did you lose a bet with Nancy Pelosi or something?"


911 posted on 09/07/2006 7:41:32 PM PDT by DaBadGuy ("Do you know who invented dynamite? No? You know why? Because he blew his frigging FACE off!!!!!")
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To: truth_seeker
This solid Republican, two time Bush voter is disappointed we have not killed or captured bin Laden.

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.

912 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:02 PM PDT by Centurion2000 (Property tax is feudalism. Income taxes are armed robbery of the minority by the majority.)
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To: freedumb2003

If they cut large portions out folks who've seen the original will know and Disney will look even worse. They have to show the whole thing.


913 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:11 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: Carolinamom

This is the Dim Rats exposed, naked in their wannabe Stalinist ambitions...

They must be defeated, crushed, in the November elections for the sake of civilization.


914 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:13 PM PDT by Saint Louis
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To: jrooney

SPOT ON and every single time one of those people post that "there is no difference between the two major parties", all of the rest of us need to remind them of this!


915 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:26 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: SE Mom
"the manner in which this program has been developed, funded, and advertised

Since when is it the business of the government how a private business operates beyond complying with the law? They also complain about "promoting this miniseries across conservative blogs and talk shows". So word of mouth on conservative websites and talkshows is wrong? Unbelievable.

If I was Disney, I would take out a full page ad in Variety and major newspapers decrying the not-so-veiled threats by the Dems to squelch a film they feel is partisan.
916 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:33 PM PDT by visualops (artlife.us crikey!)
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To: All
For 'posterity' sake




917 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:41 PM PDT by FreedomNeocon (Success is not final; Failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts -- Churchill)
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To: All
Please Call. Our Voices Need to Be heard. Toll Free Capitol Phone Number: 1-888-355-3588

Worth an 15th post -

"To all you anti-Bush freepers that want to PUNISH THE GOP by staying home in November, THIS IS JUST A TASTE of the power abuses that will occur if the donks win power. Has 5 years erased your memory of the Clintons and what power abuses they wielded? Wake Up!"


FREE SPEECH trumps spending and immigration!! Vote republican to maintain our rights to the freedom of speech!
918 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:45 PM PDT by jrooney ( Hold your cards close.)
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To: prairiebreeze

Yeah going to war with Mickey Mouse isn't a good PR move.


919 posted on 09/07/2006 7:42:54 PM PDT by mainepatsfan
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To: Mo1
Contact: Jim Manley or Rebecca Kirszner, 202-224-2939; both of the Office of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid.

This appeared in the US Newswire letter. Has anyone called them to see if they were the ones who sent the letter? I just sent a headline that, "The Martians have invaded New Jersey", and it was accepted! Thank God they haven't published it but I'm wondering if a more plausible fraud might be accepted and published.
920 posted on 09/07/2006 7:43:02 PM PDT by Panzerlied ("We shall never surrender!")
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