How biased is "The Path To 9/11"?

[Damndifino]

I'm referring to the ABC "docudrama" The Path to 9/11. As described in this week's Top 10 Conservative Idiots, quoting a review from Think Progress, it's a piece of high-prejudice Blame-Clintonism, with no references to the Bush administration's negligence.

Has anyone in the US seen it yet, and if so, is it as biased as claimed? I ask because the BBC is screening it this weekend. The other thing that prompts me to wonder is this from ABC's own website. Night Two synopsis:

"In 2001, counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke's warnings about bin Laden are downplayed, as is an FBI agent's warning to his superiors that some suspicious individuals are learning to fly jet aircraft. O'Neill butts heads with the CIA over their lack of shared information, and while intelligence agencies squabble, al Qaeda terrorists, under the radar, continue with their hijacking plot."

Not conclusive, but it doesn't sound quite as biased as the DU Top 10 suggests.

[ComerPerro]

1. Rush Limbaugh is very happy about it, if that tells you anything

he described it last Friday, and was thrilled because "the truth is finally being covered".


"This is gonna shock a lot of people, but not my listeners. It will suprise many people because it gives truths that the drive-by media never says, and it will show people in dramatizations. It won't suprise us, because we have known this all along"


No, Rush. Your listeners are not well-informed elitists.

Just because the media doesn't regularly report your and other RW lies as literal fact doesn't indicate bias.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Are you questioning the owners of DU?

[bryant69]

3. That's an ominous question

No offense.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Balbus]

*gasp*!!!!!

OMG! Who would even think of doing such a thing!!! :scared:

[Balbus]

5. duplicate

[dogday]

4. Think Progress has a good read on it

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/09/01/nowrasteh-conservative-activist

If you did not read this, you should, it tells you more about the film and the author...

I read thinkprogress.org a lot and believe what they are saying....

[Damndifino]

6. Yes, I read that

That's the article the Top 10 piece was based on. The reason I posted was to find out whether anyone on DU has actually seen this thing and, if so, is it really that biased. Naturally, I wouldn't expect a network TV drama to tell the "truth", but I'm curious to know whether our own BBC is really giving airtime to a piece of Bush propaganda.

[mother earth]

7. Complain to ABC & every other avenue you can.

Boycott ABC.

[Damndifino]

8. Well, that's not exactly what I was asking...

Still haven't heard from anyone who's seen it...

[never cry wolf]

9. From another thread, only the rightys have seen it...

I posted this in another thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2052224

The show’s political slant is evident from the fact that Rush Limbaugh is talking up the movie, noting that its screenwriter, Cyrus Nowrasteh, is a personal friend. Several weeks prior to the broadcast, publicists sent out advance DVDs of the film to conservative bloggers, and screenings have been held for conservative pundits like U.S. News & World Report writer Michael Barone. Even relatively obscure right-wing blogs such as Patterico’s Pontifications, written by Los Angeles County attorney Justin Levine, have been favored with advance screenings. Levine reciprocated by declaring that the film is "free of political spin, politically correct whitewashing and partisan wrangling" and "one of the best made-for-televison movies seen in decades. … The Clinton administration will likely go ballistic over this film." In its politically-spin-free way, Patterico pontificates, the film also "lays out viscerally powerful arguments in favor of the Patriot Act and airport profiling."

When challenged to explain why the right-wing blogosphere is abuzz with praise for the film, director David Cunningham responded that "we are also being accused of being a left wing movie that bashes Bush" — a claim for which there is absolutely no evidence. I searched Technorati for mentions of the film and found 260 references, mostly from conservative websites, every single one of which had nothing but praise for the film. And although I found numerous examples of conservative pundits and bloggers who reported seeing pre-broadcast screenings, no leftist pundits or bloggers had been given a chance to see it (unless you count Salon.com’s roundup of several 9/11-themed movies).

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/09/04/hijacking-911

and....

ABC is clearly feeling some heat over their fictionalized drama, “The Path to 9/11,” set to air on September 10th and 11th. After pulling the public blog from the movie’s web site and stonewalling progressive and liberal bloggers late last week and through the holiday weekend about requests to preview the movie—for which Rush Limbaugh’s been breathlessly cheerleading—ABC flaks seem to be unwilling to allow bloggers onto a conference call scheduled today with Thomas Kean.
snip--------
ABC entertainment prexy Steve McPherson told Variety, "Some things you do for commerce and some things because they are the right thing to do.” McPherson and others have been cloaking this docudrama wolf in non-partisan sheep’s clothing, despite having no Democrats prominently involved with the project, and allowing only right-wing partisan blogs and mainstream media outlets to preview the film—no left-wing or progressive blogs.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/09/05/if-only-i-had-an-abc-approved-press-pass/#more-4341

Clear evidence, IMHO that this is nothing but pure propoganda.