To the morons at ABC: there is a difference between docudrama and fiction

[tgnyc]

And there is a difference between a "composite" and a fabrication.

A composite does NOT depict an actual person, but rather different aspects of several actual people. The characters 'Sandy Berger,''Madeline Albright' and 'President Clinton' from "Path to 9/11" are not composites. They represent actual people. When a character depicts an actual person doing something totally unlike anything he has ever done, that is not 'composite.' That is fabrication.

A docudrama takes actual events and uses composite characters and composite actions to condense ACTUAL people and ACTUAL events to better and more interestingly tell a true story.

A work of fiction creates non-existing characters and creates non-existing events to tell a story that is not actually true.

The questionable parts of your movie are not examples of composites endemic to the craft of docudrama. They are examples of creative fiction.

Forgive us for assuming that people working in the television business would understand this. But clearly you do not. Or you assume we don't.

Either way, you're f---ing idiots.

[Maven]

1. Well said.

Thank you.

[Bill Bored]

2. I just signed this petition!

Dear Friend,

I just signed this petition to send a message to ABC concerning its upcoming miniseries on 9-11, scheduled to be aired on Septemeber 10-11, which is full of inaccuracies distorting the public’s knowledge about what led to September 11th. The film was written by an avowed conservative activists and it largely places the blame for failing to prevent the attacks on the Clinton administration while whitewashing the failures of the Bush administration.

With your help, we can put pressure on demanding ABC to come clean on this film making clear to viewers that this is a docudrama, not a documentary account of the events and political decisions that preceded the attacks. Please join me by signing this petition:

http://www.votelouise.com/page/petition/ComeCleanABC/khaek

Thanks!

[Richard Steele]

3. There's a difference between 'expressing an opinion' and LYING, as well.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion,
not their own FACTS.

[librechik]

4. somebody needs to sue for slander

Sandy?

[helderheid]

6. absolutely!

[Nite Owl]

10. Someone really has to

it may be the only thing that they understand and it would force discussion the story out and how they are deliberately lying to the public. Our local ABC station in Albany, NY stopped showing the 'Caught Red Handed' commercial about our sleezy congressman, John Sweeney because he is suing them. And it was all true!

[OneBlueSky]

5. I'm quite sure that their response would be . . .

hey, this is based entirely on the report of the 9/11 Commission . . . this is the body appointed by the president to report on exactly what happened on that day . . . we can only assume that they did their job well and that the information is accurate and complete . . . we're just reporting the history as documented by an official U.S. government body . . .

or something like that . . .

[tgnyc]

13. Now they're saying that the movie contains "fictionalized scenes."

Why would they show a movie about the most significant event in recent American history, claim it was based on the most authoritative governmental review of said event, and then include "fictionalized" scenes? How stupid!

[Gregorian]

7. Hey, the holocaust actually wasn't Hilter's fault.

It's 1950, and there's a docudrama out that has rewritten the holocaust to vindicate Hitler. How do you think the public would take that?

[SmokingJacket]

8. Our culture no long distinguishes between fact and fiction.

How many "memoirs" have later been shown to be total fabrications? Nobody minds too much, because, you know, fiction is just a better story!

I've been fighting this for a long time in the publishing world -- some magazines just call it all "prose," because it just doesn't matter. Or they publish "creative non-fiction," where you take reality and tweak it. I find it infuriating.

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. Please edit the title

The term used is very hurtful to people with developmental disabilities... most of whom (unlike the ABC executives) would understand your very clear and accurate point. Portraying a non-fiction event using demonstrably fictional events is akin to a newspaper article attributing quotes to words that the subject never said.

But now that the gloves are off, I expect to see a movie portraying Bush saying "I'm a pigfucker". After all, it's a composite, you see. Bush saying "I'm a pigfucker" is illustrative of a general pattern of pigfuckery endemic to his administration.

[tgnyc]

12. fixed

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. Thank you TGNYC! n/t