Three From Clinton Administration Urge Disney to Cancel or Revise Sept. 11

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/07/washington/07path.html

Three From Clinton Administration Urge Disney to Cancel or Revise Sept. 11 Miniseries

Three members of the Clinton administration have written the chairman of the Walt Disney Company, ABC’s parent, to complain that the network’s coming two-part miniseries “The Path to 9/11” is fraught with factual errors and fabrications.

Also in the Guide The Race for the U.S. House Governors' Races The letters ask that the five-hour movie, scheduled for broadcast Sunday and Monday, be either edited for accuracy or canceled, and ABC gave a small indication yesterday that some changes might be made.

One of the officials, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said in her letter to the Disney chairman, Robert A. Iger, that although she had requested a copy of the film, ABC had not given her one. But, Ms. Albright said, she has been told by people who have seen it that it “depicts scenes that never happened, events that never took place, decisions that were never made and conversations that never occurred.”

“It asserts as fact things that are not fact,” she wrote.

The concerns of Ms. Albright, as well as those in letters from Samuel R. Berger, former national security Adviser, and Bruce Lindsey, a Clinton White House aide who is now chief executive of the Clinton Foundation, were echoed yesterday by several Democratic members of Congress.

[whistle]

1. I see grounds for a law suit for misrepresentation and liable

[bliss_eternal]

3. Definitely...!

:) let's hope someone follows through and does that very thing.

[Erika]

5. Yep there is much ground against ABC for liable suits

Maybe they were so W cocky and arrogant they thought they could get away with the lies and bs.

[Sparkly]

9. psst

(It's "libel." But the might be liable for damages if their lies amounted to libel!)

[whistle]

35. Thanks I am awlays mipellsing wdors....

Mipellssed Wdors
A notebook entry from January 16, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

[RonHack]

44. Rllaey?

I hraed taht smrat ppeole poerfrm tihs wtih llttie tlbroue.

I wednor, tuho, if flmiiiaarty wtih the wrod is neessarcy (can ceihldrn raed tihs, too?)

[BRLIB]

12. Excellent Idea, I sent a letter to ABC

saying that if this "pack of lies", as Sam Cedar calls it, was played in my airspace to expect a lawsuit.
I will be party to any such suit, and will ante up a few tens of dollars to back it up.
If someone gets a site like "sueabcforitslies.com" going, I will get in on it!

[Kurovski]

14. Sam Seder from Air America Radio?(nt)

[D23MIURG23]

16. Lets hope.

I doubt it will be pulled unless there are serious threats of that.

[connecticut yankee]

31. I signed two email petitions

but I wonder how effective they really are.

[jeanarrett]

54. Libel. n/t

[JPZenger]

57. Updated Info over on daily kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/7/84915/81189

[bliss_eternal]

2. I'm glad to hear this--

thanks so much for posting, sabra! :hi:

[seabeyond]

4. reading a scene by scene review by a reporter, the whole movie

would have to be remade. it is all on the premise clinton a wussy do nothing except get blow job president and bush da man.

they cant fix it

[Poiuyt]

6. When are we going to hear from Clinton himself?

I would love to see him go on the attack

[tridim]

7. Did the money guys really think Clinton wouldn't raise a stink?

They had to have expected a backlash, I'm guessing they planned for it.

Are they going to Swiftboat Clinton?

[treestar]

36. Can they possibly? What's left?

They've already found out everything Clinton ever did that could even be spun as bad.

Bad boy, Billy!

[texpatriot2004]

8. I was taught in school that fiction was not the same as fact nm

[Lex]

10. I hope they used the "sue" word in their communications with ABC

and Disney because those organizations do not have the right to procee with falsehoods against these public people once these people have put ABC/Disney on notice that these things *never* happened.

You can criticize and ridicule and call public figures all kinds of names, but if a media organization has been put on notice that their publication, whether a movie or an article, is an outright lie then that opens them up to a successful lawsuit because they cannot proceed with a "reckless disregard for the truth" (which is the legal standard when public figures are involved, iirc).

They've been put on notice, sounds like. Let's see if they proceed.

[peacetalksforall]

17. Are you a lawyer or a Holiday Inn guest? I love it when lawyers teach

us. I have to thank the right wing for teaching more about law, Congress, statutes, protocal than I ever expected to learn in my lifetime by virtue of their disregard for it all. I love learning this stuff. I am a better citizen and patriot - thanks to all contributors who have helped build my brain cells.

I just wish we could get going on the illegality of their running secret, sub-government below the radar of Congress and the citizens - using our money for their secret operations.

I want Gonales and Ashcroft and all their legal assistants to have to hire a total of 2000 lawyers to represent them in national and international lawsuits and tribunals - out of their pockets with no secret contirbutors.

I'm really ticked this evening. I am heartened by your post.

[jwirr]

51. The timing of this movie makes it open to claims of "intent to do

damage" which is badly needed to stop all these liars who circulate lies before elections. Also they have agreed to put disclaimers on during the movie. One of the saddest things about this whole idiocy is that it is Disney lying. We have for many years trusted this dishonest bunch with our children's entertainment. I guess it is time to stop.

Didn't Falwell buy up Disney, etc. about 6-7 years ago?

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. This thing is a totally defective piece of shit.

Read the remarks of the guy who wrote it about the phone hang up part. What a liar.

[Mind_your_head]

13. It's a propaganda piece ......plain & simple

Main Entry: pro·pa·gan·da
Pronunciation: "prä-p&-'gan-d&, "prO-
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Congregatio de propaganda fide Congregation for propagating the faith, organization established by Pope Gregory XV died 1623
1 capitalized : a congregation of the Roman curia having jurisdiction over missionary territories and related institutions
2 : the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person
3 : ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause; also : a public action having such an effect

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=propaganda

[BootinUp]

28. I think Disney believes the propoganda.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

49. Disney believes in fairytales...

... :puffpiece:

[Mind_your_head]

62. Ya think????

Disney has made "quite a livelihood" telling those fairytales.

What's that old saying again? One must "Take the good with the bad"

Think about it :think:

[ninkasi]

15. In this right wing piece of propaganda

I wonder if the authors were so interested in accuracy that they showed scenes of why NORAD didn't immediately scramble interceptors? That would certainly have added to the drama, but might also have taken valuable time which was instead used to write imaginary scenes critical of the Clinton administration. Of course, I don't don't for certain that the lack of air defense response isn't in the movie, but if it is, it hasn't been mentioned. I won't find out, either, since I refuse to watch this piece of trash. I am also letting ABC know exactly how I feel.

[sass29429]

20. Yeah I wanna see them sued

Let's have the truth come out. I want to see those Disney right wing capitalists cowering in their boots. The people that brought gay days to the Mouse House are died in the wool conservatives.

I agree NORAD should have scrambled fighters to shoot down any and all aircraft off their flight plans and all the VFR planes too.

[The Wizard]

25. Don't expect any truth

to get exposed to the light of day, you know state secrets and all of that crap. The Patriot (enabling) Act protects the entire Bush cabal from ever being uncovered. As long as they can make up the rules as we go along they are insulated from any legal action. Someday this will bite these bastards in the ass. All we can do while they're in power is anxiously await the day when they're out of power. I can hear the squealing and crying now, but but but Clinton. It's going to sound like a Tourette's convention.

[Ezlivin]

38. With whom do you agree?

No one said that NORAD should "have scrambled fighters to shoot down any and all aircraft off their flight plans and all the VFR planes too."

That is a preposterous statement.

[rateyes]

40. Methinks you caught

a troll!

[Time for change]

33. From what I've heard, there is no mention of the lack of air defense

Nor of Bush sitting around and reading a book to shcool children after learning that we were under attack. That would have been very dramatic too.

But in my opinion ABC is not interested in accuracy, NOR are they interested in dramatic effect. This film is being aired at this time for one reason and one reason only -- to influence the November elections.

[TexasLawyer]

55. I wonder if they will show Mohammed Atta

chugging whiskeys & coke, eating pork chops and gettin' wild at coke parties with his lingerie-model girlfriend and mysterious German visitors.

That was part of the "path to 9/11" too.

[peacetalksforall]

18. Sound like reels of deflective sxxt. OK, if not reels, buckets of

digital sxxt.

ABC - doing all they can to protect our delicate Dick and George and the other P-NACKO Fascists who lied us into death, maiming, and debt.

[humbled_opinion]

19. Karl Rove Election Ploy

Typical Rovian politics before election start blaming everything on Clinton....

[RamboLiberal]

21. Mickey joins Team Rove

http://www.dailykos.com/


Disney/ABC cancelled the reality show featuring a gay couple, "Welcome To The Neighborhood," ten days before it was to air when James Dobson and the religious right threatened to withdraw their support for the conservative classic "Narnia."

Disney refused to allow its subsidiary Miramax, which specialized in controversial fare, to distribute "Fahrenheit 9/11" allegedly because they felt it was too political.

They made a deal with Mel Gibson, beloved on the religious right for his film "The Passion," to produce a film about the Holocaust even though they knew at the time he held extremely controversial views about the Holocaust and Judaism. They only cancelled the project when he was caught by the police drunkenly saying "all the wars in the world are caused by the Jews."

Now they have produced a blatantly rightwing work of fiction which they are saying is based on the official 9/11 Commission report and they are giving it away without any advertising. They sent out hundreds of screening copies but failed to send any to the Clinton administration officials who are trashed in the film or to liberal columnists and bloggers.

There's a pattern here folks and it isn't a pattern that shows ABC knuckling under to liberals. There is a huge amount of money at stake in all these decisions, but for some reason Disney seems to be more than willing to throw it away when it benefits the right wing: already produced films and TV shows are either cancelled or allowed to be distributed by others, while hugely expensive, controversial rightwing mini-series' are broadcast with no advertising and allowed to be downloaded for free by I-tunes.

[nicknameless]

22. Where are the cease and desist lawsuits?

Several people are slandered in this pile of lies.

[Radio_Lady]

23. ABC TO AIR 9/11 MINISERIES SANS ADS

ABC has decided its miniseries The Path to 9/11 is so controversial and sensitive that it plans to air it next week without commercials, Daily Variety reported today (Tuesday), citing ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson. The trade publication said that the network had considered airing it with limited commercial interruption, as it did with Saving Private Ryan, which was presented by Ford. "The creative was so limiting," McPherson said, that "in the end we didn't think it was appropriate." He said that the five-hour program will also be available for free downloading via Apple's iTunes Music Store and via streaming video on ABC.com. "We spent $30 million on this and we're putting it on without commercials. How important we think this is speaks for itself."

From: http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/abc%20to%20air%20911%20miniseries%20sans%20ads_1007338

[Lasher]

37. Wow, free copies of propaganda for everyone!

Isn't that unusual, to give out free copies of a $30M production?

Gotta get copies out to all the school teachers so they can indoctrinate - I mean teach - the students about Karl Rove's version - I mean the facts - of the 9/11 attacks on our country.

[jwirr]

52. Aren't there election finance laws that would force the GOP to

include this giveaway in their donation reports?

[namvet73]

24. Fauxney is pronounced "phony" Welcome to Fauxneyworld!

[Oakland]

26. Great site by Matt Stoller

All you need to know and to take action on the ABC hit piece. http://openlettertoabc.blogspot.com

[JPZenger]

47. Also Post on Yahoo's Message Board for Disney Stockholders

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Services/Recreational_Activities/messagesview?bn=5217

The above link is to the Disney stock message board on yahoo. You can post on there and talk about how ABC's reckless disregard for the truth threatens the value of Disney stock. It not only opens them up to libel lawsuits, but also shareholder lawsuits saying that company executives were irresponsible in putting the company's assets at risk.

Anyone signed in with any yahoo ID can post without a further registration.

[Frank Cannon]

27. I can't believe Harvey Keitel was involved in this shite

Is he some sort of wingnut, or just really, really desperate for work? It seemed like he was in EVERYTHING a few years ago.

[B Calm]

29. I hope they sue the hell out of this company!

[jwirr]

53. Can local affiliates be sued? I was thinking that we could put

pressure on local affiliates to get them to not show the movie in our own areas.

[B Calm]

61. I don't know why not... Republicans are always rewriting history to

their agenda.

[Vinca]

30. The Big Dog needs to come front and center on this one.

It's his legacy on the line first and foremost and it's blatantly unfair for 9/11 to be deposited on his doorstep. The ultimate "blame Clinton."

[Time for change]

32. Damn right

And he'd better do it quickly.

The November elections are much more important than his legacy right now, though probably closely related to it.

[Cobalt Violet]

34. I hope it works.

I really hope this whole thing wakes up a lot of Democrats.

[prismpalette]

39. 9/11 miniseries and petitions

Find the list of sponsors and contacting them is an easier ploy to have this program pulled. Without sponsors the network doesn't make the bucks it will make, especially since there is this huge outcry from the demon liberals. The huge out pouring of wrath and hand wringing is giving this fiction more advertising -for free-than even the network had hoped.

[emmadoggy]

41. Are any of the MSM reporting about this uproar??

Just curious. I rarely ever see any network news, and this story has been plastered everywhere here at DU. Just wondered if there was any peep of it on tv.

[JPZenger]

42. Washington Post and MSNBC

An article in today's Washington Post was headlined as the lead story on MSNBC's home page today.

[JPZenger]

43. Delete Worst Scenes and Allow Clarke to Respond on the Air

From what I have read, ABC could remove the most inaccurate scenes without adversely affecting the entire story. I also believe they should give some free air time for a response from a credible person, such as Richard Clarke.

I am surprised none of the Clinton officials have publicly threatened a libel suit. That would get the suits at Disney moving.

I wonder if there might even be a possibility of threatening a shareholder lawsuit - that the executives of the company are being reckless in opening up the company to a successful libel lawsuit by many persons.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sui generis]

46. maybe if they were willing to let Michael Moore do a follow up

presentation we'd let it go.

Balance is better than stuffing our heads in the sand and hoping our asses don't get shot off.

[JPZenger]

48. Remember Disney tried to Stop Fahrenheit 9-11

Anyone remember mid-2004? A Disney subsidiary, Miramax, had an agreement to distribute Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11. Then Disney execs refused to let Miramax distribute it. Moore had to scramble at the last minute to find another distributor in order to get the movie into theaters.

[sui generis]

50. oh yeah. That would be rich.

Maybe we should play social judo and insist on equal time for Michael Moore. Then ABC would be getting all the wacky conservatives to email them and ratings ratings ratings, plus advertiser sales. During the PT911 segments they could sell skyscraper parachutes and duct tape back yard survival kits. During the Michael Moore segments they could sell barf bags for us progressives to throw up in once again as we realize how truly fucked and stupid this administration is.

They're just going about this completely wrong!

[Somawas]

56. On a related note-

which network pulled its miniseries biography of Saint Ronald and the Blessed Nancy when the wingnuts screamed that the blessed memory of Saint Ronnie was being besmirched by that miniseries?

[Borgnine]

58. CBS

Les Moonves is a tool.

[Somawas]

60. Too bad.

It would make me happier if ABC had folded like a pair of dueces.

[Imagevision]

59. Someone should broadcast the ABC "DISCREPANCIES AFTERWARD"

ABC 9-11 dramatization should be critiqued by the actual facts...