Thursday, September 07, 2006

Boycott ABC and Tell Them About it!















Graphic from DailyKos

FRESH INFO: 12:17AM PT
Bush wants ABC to pause their Crockumentary for his speech

FRESH INFO: 6:24PM PT
Evangelical Fundimentailsts behind ABC/Disney film


From fellow Dean Democrat, and activist Eric Predoehl (aka E.P.),
A few years ago, the right wing nuts organized in massive numbers to stop CBS from broadcasting the TV movie about the Reagans.

They did the same thing to Dan Rather.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot. ABC is about to broadcast a mini-series about 9/11. There's some blatant distortions in this film, and they've refused to share copies of this film to former president Bill Clinton, and any person with a left-leaning viewpoint.

Today, ABC released the statement: "No one has seen the final version of the film because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible."

Never mind that 900 right-wing media outlets have already already received a copy of this film.

Why not make a stink? Why should ABC and the right-wing media be allowed a free pass to turn the anniversary of America's worst tragedy into a political statement?

I'm absolutely sickened by what ABC is doing. It's not enough that they continue to broadcast Rush Limbaugh and other wingnuts on their ABC Radio network. They continue to spread lies on a major scale. While Fox News gets the big attention for their right-wing slant, other major networks have their own propaganda messages in place

Need to vent? Do you have any free time to send a quick email? Do you have extra free long distance minutes on your cell phone?

I'd encourage you to sign every petition, and make as many phone calls as you have time.

Here's some places to get started:

ABC, Inc.
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4551
(818) 460-7477

Info from ABC Corporate Site

Think Progress Tell ABC

Democratic Party

Working for Change

I wonder what Steve Jobs, the largest single shareholder of Disney,
thinks of this movie?


















Graphic from Smith Town Democrats

Here's the text of the letter Democratic leaders sent to ABC today:
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 network¹s 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

Democrats.org


To share your opinion on this or any other post, please click the word "COMMENTS" below.



2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

moveon.org is delivering a petition tomorrow. You can go to their website and sign it. Call, write, email. I emailed my local tv station and their email was so full they couldn't accept anymore:)

3:41 PM  
Blogger Emily Duffy said...

Thanks for that info Maria. This story is ON FIRE!!! Even some Republicans are now demanding that ABC drop the film. Could this improbable TV Miniseries be the catalyst that brings the Bush Administration down? Here's hoping!

I hope everyone reading this blog feels free to post regarding this and other entries.

4:10 PM  

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