A Show That Trumpeted History but Led to Confusion (ABC's Path to 9/11)

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/business/media/18abc.html?ex=1158724800&en=5fd940a733f5c408&ei=5087%0A

A Show That Trumpeted History but Led to Confusion

It’s little wonder that ABC’s mini-series “The Path to 9/11” drew stinging criticism earlier this month for its invented scenes, fabricated dialogue and unsubstantiated accounts of how the Clinton and Bush administrations conducted themselves in the years encompassing the World Trade Center attacks of 1993 and 2001.

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While the two-night docudrama was shown without a sponsor, ABC did not always intend it to be so. As recently as July, ABC was discussing the possibility of running the program with limited commercials from one or two major sponsors.

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Once it became clear that it would have to go without sponsors, ABC began to promote the mini-series as a public service. That decision left the network open to a weighty question: Is it truly a public service if it alienates a significant part of the audience?

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“Throughout the history of the broadcast business, programming decisions have been made based not only on their commercial nature, but also on their relevance and potential public interest,” the statement said. “In greenlighting ‘The Path to 9/11,’ our commercial expectations very much took into account the nature of the movie. We proceeded with the project because of our belief in the importance of the subject.”

[keepCAblue]

1. dupe -- it's already on DU's homepage. eom