Editorial | ABC's 9/11 Movie- Let viewers decide

Phila Inquirer ^

[hipaatwo]

Can viewers at least watch the ABC miniseries about 9/11, instead of having someone decide for them whether it's an informative "docudrama" or a partisan hack job?

ABC and its parent company, Disney, shouldn't cave in to critics who want the network to cancel the five-hour movie, The Path to 9/11, scheduled to air tomorrow and Monday nights. These critics include Senate Democratic leaders, who are worried that the miniseries will portray Clinton administration officials unfairly in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. They wrote a heavy-handed letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger, reminding him of his duty "as a beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves" to promote open, accurate discussions of political ideas.

In other words, in the name of openness, please cancel this dramatic production that we haven't seen. It's the same lame argument that conservatives raised in high dudgeon in 2003 over CBS's unflattering miniseries about Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Unfortunately, in that case, CBS and its commercial sponsors did cower in the face of an orchestrated conservative campaign. The network dumped the miniseries onto cable channel Showtime, where it was seen by a much smaller audience. (But it did at least see the light of day, and the republic is still standing.)

Sight-unseen critics of the 9/11 miniseries should be honest about their motivations. There is an anxious partisan calculation here. That is: If a Democratic administration gets some of the on-screen blame for failing to capture bin Laden, it could hurt Democrats at the polls this November. But if a movie could do that, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 would have defeated Bush in 2004.

[hipaatwo]

From the Inky no less

[BW2221]

The Philadelphia Inquirer is actually making sense?

I don't know whether to buy a Big Game lotto ticket or go to confession and prepare for the end of the world this afternoon.

[shankbear]

Maybe this rag is sinking like the rest of the printed news and is trying another angle. Not from PA so not sure.

[ncountylee]

The White House should take the position that the time to correct inaccuracies is after the 9/11 series is viewed. Censorship should never be politically driven.

[dirtboy]

They wrote a heavy-handed letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger, reminding him of his duty "as a beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves" to promote open, accurate discussions of political ideas.

The Dems did a lot more than that - they made implicit political threats against Disney, a blatant abuse of power - which is the REAL big story here, but, true to form, the Inky leaves out the most damning detail about the Dems.

[tsmith130]

Hedge your bets...do both. ;o)

[mewzilla]

Or folks can just read up on the subject. FWIW, I like my info with references, footnotes, endnotes, and/or appendices.

Trust but verify :)

[Cicero]

Well, they will continually compare this series on the lead-up to 9/11, which I gather is balanced and historically correct, against the Reagan TV hit piece, which was a slimy spin job. But that's leftists for you. Unable to distinguish a true fact from a lie.

Hey, there's no need to make up lies about clinton's beastliness and fecklessness. The bare truth is damaging enough.

[shield]

LOL

[SE Mom]

Now there's a twist..a liberal editorial board coming out for common sense.

As Miss Piggy does a fly-by......

[shield]

Did the GOP senators in DC send a threatening letter to see BS to pull the Reagan Movie? If I remember correctly it was totally consumer driven....along with Nancy Reagan, former First Lady.

[Mo1]

In other words, in the name of openness, please cancel this dramatic production that we haven't seen. It's the same lame argument that conservatives raised in high dudgeon in 2003 over CBS's unflattering miniseries about Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Unfortunately, in that case, CBS and its commercial sponsors did cower in the face of an orchestrated conservative campaign

Gee .. I don't remember Republican US Senator threatening to yank CBS's license if they aired it

Complaining about something is one thing .. Openly threatening a TV by Democrat US Senators is an abuse of power

[nuconvert]

The democrats and other assorted liberals have spoken : The public is too stupid to discriminate between a made for tv movie drama and a documentary.
So much for their always spouting their belief in how smart the American public is.
HYPOCRITES

[Cicero]

Exactly. That's another major difference. One was a grass-roots consumer boycott coming from ordinary people who loved Reagan and objected to yet another leftist hit job on him. The other is a full-bore legal and political attack from the highest levels--clinton, Senate Democrats, and the DNC--with only a figleaf of popular protest.

[Dems_R_Losers]

The Inquirer is hard core about free speech and free exchange of ideas and opinions. Chris Satullo is its editor and although he is unabashedly liberal, he makes sure there is a wide range of opinions on the opinion pages of the Inquirer and he is not afraid to admit when conservatives have better ideas or strategy than liberals. The Inquirer was also one of only a handful of newspapers that published at least one of the Mohammed cartoons.

[Hildy]

I just read somewhere that Scholastic had a workbook for students to follow along when this movie was being aired, but now they've pulled it. NICE.

[hipaatwo]

[zeaal]

"They wrote a heavy-handed letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger, reminding him of his duty "as a beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves" to promote open, accurate discussions of political ideas."

This is not what Iger is doing by presenting the production on ABC --- promoting open, accurate discussions of political ideas?

[hipaatwo]

I can not believe the Inky said any of this. I'm living in a parallel universe.