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.
This is absolutely insane.
Or the U.S. Senate interfering when CBS was going to air that lie-a-thon called "The Reagans"?
They are off their meds! And I am thoroughly enjoying watching them be pulled off message to attend to this tempest in a teapot.
This must be that "chill wind" that Tim Robbins was talking about!!!!!
***I saw former Gov. Keane (sp) Chair of the 9/11 commission. He was a consultant to ABC's movie and said that every suggestion or correction he made to the producers was made in making the movie.***
Vermonter, we would be DELIGHTED if you can remember where and when you heard Gov. Keane make that statement. We need the proof.
Didn't BJ, HilaryCare, Reid and Lola go to the Fraudulant 911 Premier?? Threats like the good little Stalinists they are!
Any doubt about the kind of Country they would prefer or why they like Dictators so much??
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
***Let's see if anybody can find a letter like this to Michael Moore.
Anybody?***
EXACTLY!
These Rats are as bad as the Mullahs of Iran.
Maybe worse.
Memo to Senate Dim "leaders", (snort)
Spelled any other way, it's still censorship.
And we still know that if we vote for you in November, we will pay with our lives.
Have a nice day.
The American People (I hope)
Chucky is a schmuckie and a schleppy Rat he is
A lefty and truth twisty he stirs trouble as his Biz.
I just sent this to Powerline. They are lawyers, let's see if they say anything about it.
I'm convinced that these rat bast**ds will get us all killed, I'm so outraged by their continual affront to our National Security, President, Troops, and cover-up of their's and Clinton's negligence.. sorry for the language, Just sick to death of these traitors. I wouldn't doubt that the scissors are poised in the editing room.
My gosh, this is unbelievable - even for Democrats. They ripped their masks right off!
This is no longer the Party of FDR. It is the Party of Stalin!
I actually saw a repeat it was on FOX with Brit Hume originally and then they played the clip again on the FOX report an hour later. Hopefully it will be available on FOX's website at some point
And the actual statement by Keane was that he consulted with the writers of the show and they made every correction he requested.
Isn't this kind of threatening of a Disney illegal? Censureship, anybody?
Prairie - you're probably getting double and triple pinged to this but just in case...
I addessed it to hold on now. Hopefully he will speak about it.
"The Senate Democratic leadership just threatened Disney's broadcast license."
ABC has no broadcast license to threaten. No network requires a license. Only individual TV stations require licenses.
They smell "victory." When ABC blinked by announcing they were going to edit the show, that was all the show of weakness the Dim jackals needed to close in for the kill. They've got ABC on the run now, and they won't stop until their prey is dead and they're ripping it's carcass to shreds.
I expect that the announcement that the entire show will be cancelled will come tomorrow afternoon.
They're no different from the mafia.
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