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.
I sure as hell won't!
I'm thrilled he and Powell have hitched their star to McCain.
Also ironic, they praised the 9/11 report which this miniseries is based on.
One more reason NOT to vote for McCain, because you know they'll get jobs in a McCain White House if it ever came to that.
And when he's not the nominee, they'll be marginalized.
Freedom of Speech, freedom of the press, religious freedom, national security, the rule of law. These are just the tip of the iceberg of things the DNC is against. To those here who plan to teach republicans a lesson, think about this.
Exactly. Hopefully marginalized into irrelevance.
The signatories to this crude and blatant abuse of government power via threatening ABC's broadcast license if it dares to broadcast the truth, and not white wash Clinton, lie like rugs.
Here is what Kean is quoted as saying in the September 6, 2006 NY Times article to which the power abusers refer:
"Former Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey, the chairman of the Sept. 11 commission and a consultant on the miniseries, defended the program, saying he thought the disputed scene was an honest representation of a number of failed efforts to capture Mr. bin Laden.
" 'I pointed out the fact that the scene involving Afghanistan and the attempt to get bin Laden is a composite,' Mr. Kean said, adding that the miniseries format required some conflation of events. But, he said, 'The basic fact is that on a number of occasions, they thought they might have been able to get bin Laden, and on those occasions, the plug was pulled for various reasons.'
"Mr. Kean conceded that some points might have been more drama than documentary. 'Some of the people shown there probably weren’t there,' he said."
One only hopes Disney has the cojones to tell these perps to pound sand, and shove it, and if they ever try to mess with their license for just telling it like it was, it will sue their socks off. They might also invite the perps to specifically list each and every inaccuracy they think is in the production, because ABC looks forward to their further embarrassment, after ABC is furnished responding to whatever is on their ersatz little list.
Is this the Senate Dems vs. Mickey Mouse? I'll take the mouse, and give 40 points.
I think they should build a Path to 9/11 ride at DisneyWorld. One where the evil animatronic Osama plots to kill Americans, while the animatronic Bill chases skirts.
Instead of showing that one composite scene where Berger hangs up the phone, ABC should show the FOUR times he turned down the chance to get Bin Laden. THAT would be more accurate.
If I got it correct abc owns 10 affiliate stations including abc and probably Kabc which have to be super big heavy hitter profit centers.
If the rats start sending in the irs or FCC they could play hell with them.
Does anyone here have any access or know anyone who could get the path to 911 video on the web for us, or even snippets of different scenes especially the one where ben laden is cornered. If we could get that on the web before Sunday night it would be awesome.
Will that happen?
:-}No.
they also praised (and dedicated songs) to michael moore for his 59+ "innacuracies".
liberals are a dishonest miserabel bunch who will stop at nothing to destroy america. they must be stopped.
they also praised (and dedicated songs) to michael moore for his 59+ "innacuracies".
liberals are a dishonest miserable bunch who will stop at nothing to destroy america. they must be stopped.
You mean you want to see them "frog-marched"?????
Followed by Berger in the National Archives, stuffing documents in his drawers. Followed by Bill Clinton in his Arkansas goober mode, saying, "Boy, that Sandy sure is sloppy!
Sean Hannity had the original writer on today's radio show. That writer will chat with Hannity again on Monday - just to discuss what was edited out of the TV broadcast.
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