In the past 24 hours the tide has definitely begun turning against ABC for its misguided decision to produce and air "The Path to 9/11," a movie that desecrates this national tragedy by producing a completely partisan film that is riddled with inaccuracies and produced by people who clearly have a conservative, anti-Democratic agenda. So much has happened that I thought it might be helpful to recap some highlights which show that our voices are being heard, and to remind us all of what we can do today.
Here are some of the latest developments in the movement to get ABC to modify significantly or axe this appalling movie:
- Today's Washington Post has a good article by Howie Kurtz (of all people!) that recaps the key problems people have with the movie, and clearly puts ABC in a bad light. If anything, Kurtz is known as someone with a conservative bias, so it's significant that he has done a fairly long, well-placed article that doesn't make ABC look good. It helps to spread this story and give it the mainstream legitimacy it deserves. A key excerpt:
Former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright called one scene involving her "false and defamatory." Former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger said the film "flagrantly misrepresents my personal actions." And former White House aide Bruce R. Lindsey, who now heads the William J. Clinton Foundation, said: "It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known."
"False and defamatory"? Those sound like lawsuit words. You go Madeleine!
- Today's New York Times publishes its second article in as many days about the ABC fiasco. One significant thing about this article is that it highlights how ABC did not comply with requests from Albright, Berger and Clinton for a copy of the film. The article also states that ABC might be leaving the door open to last-minute changes in the film:
"It is common practice to continue to make edits to strengthen a project right up to the broadcast date," said Hope Hartman, an ABC spokeswoman.
The series, which cost almost $40 million, is to be broadcast without commercials, but Ms. Hartman said this had been planned, as a public service, and had nothing to do with any pressure that might have been brought on prospective advertisers.
Ms. Hartman said she could not confirm that Ms. Albright, Mr. Berger or the Clinton Foundation had requested any advance copies of the movie. She said such copies had been provided to "accredited media and educational institutions," including talk shows.
Um, since when are right-wing blogs accredited media and educational institutions? Whatever.
This NYT article is also notable in that Cyrus Nowrasteh, the conservative, right-wing writer and producer of the movie, admits that they just made stuff up:
Mr. Berger's character is also seen abruptly hanging up during a conversation with a C.I.A. officer at a critical moment of a military operation. In an interview yesterday with KRLA-AM in Los Angeles, Cyrus Nowrasteh, the mini-series' screenwriter and one of its producers, said that moment had been improvised.
"Sandy Berger did not slam down the phone," Mr. Nowrasteh said. "That is not in the report. That was not scripted. But you know when you're making a movie, a lot of things happen on set that are unscripted. Accidents occur, spontaneous reactions of actors performing a role take place. It's the job of the filmmaker to say, `You know, maybe we can use that.'"
OK, so when you're creating a key scene in movie about a terrorist attack in which thousands of American lives were lost, it's OK to just make shit up to make Democrats look bad? Exactly how is that a "public service"?? That's unAmerican and criminal. I hope Berger sues Cyrus' ass.
- As the Wapo and NYT articles show, the Dems are definitely fighting back on this one, which is good to see. Yesterday we saw prominent Dems from the Clinton Administration like Berger, Albright and Lindsey speaking out; we saw House members Conyers, Harman, Dingel and Slaughter sending a stinging letter to ABC; and we saw Richard Ben-Veniste, Dem member of the 9/11 Commission, assailing the movie on TV. The executive director of the DNC, Tom McMahon, also sent a strongly worded letter to ABC, as reported on Americablog, and the DNC's website includes an online letter to Iger. And there is certainly more pressure being placed behind the scenes.
- Also, did you notice at the end of the Wapo article where Kurtz states that 25,000 people have written letters to ABC? I'm not sure where he got that figure, and it's probably much higher than that by now, but that's not small potatoes in my book.
I think it's worth repeating an analysis by John Aravosis over at Americablog about how this has all the tell-tale signs of being a major PR disaster for ABC/Disney:
I know that sometimes I enjoy a little hyperbole on this blog, but this time I'm not just posturing to scare Disney. PR disasters are my business. I can smell 'em. I was worried about this campaign a few days ago. I was even worried this morning. But no more. The thing just exploded in the past few hours. The Democrats are now piping mad and fully engaged. The media is on the story and it most certainly won't let go. This is the most exciting 9/11-related story they've got as the 5-year anniversary of the attacks approaches. What's worse for Disney, the spin in these articles and TV shows is decidedly anti-Disney/ABC - Disney/ABC has lost control of the story and the message, and that's when the meltdown begins.
So what can we do today? Just to recap, here are some basic things you can do today if you haven't done so already:
- Send an email (from your own personal email) to Iger and other key execs at ABC/Disney, and call them. Key emails: patrick.k.preblick@abc.com, jonathan.hogan@abc.com, erin.felentzer@abc.com, netaudr@abc.com, investor.relations@disneyonline.com.
- Send an email to your local ABC affiliate, and call them.
- Send an email to Steve Jobs at Apple: steve@apple.com, stevej@apple.com, sjobs@apple.com (I told him I'm now reconsidering an upgrade of my iPod).
- Call and send an email to Scholastic Books to protest the student resource guide they created to go along with the movie. Apparently they've taken down some of their materials, but it's still unclear where they stand on this issue. Key emails: rrobinson@scholastic.com, investor_relations@scholastic.com, news@scholastic.com.
- Sign the DNC's online letter to ABC/Disney.
- Sign ThinkProgress' online letter to ABC/Disney.
- Encourage all of your friends to do all of the above as well.
highacidity's diary has all the contact information you'll need.
In addition, here are some other actions you can consider doing today:
- If your local paper runs a story about the ABC debacle, write an LTE in response. Or write them a letter to ask them why they aren't covering this story.
- Email the Wapo and NYT articles mentioned above to your friends, to get them up on the top emailed articles list. This is a little thing, but it can help give the articles added attention, and show the papers that this is a story that merits more coverage.
If you have other ideas, please share them below.
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Update [2006-9-7 10:42:22 by davidkc]:: .
Several kossacks have mentioned some good action items related to Scholastic Books that are worth highlighting:.
- In addition to contacting Scholastic directly, contact your local school district to insist that they don't use the Scholastic materials related to the bogus 9/11 film and that they oppose all Scholastic textbook purchases if the company does not agree to pull out of the ABC deal immediately, and let Scholastic know that you did this; takeback's diary explains why.
- If you write to your local paper about this matter, be sure to mention the Scholastic angle. Some reporters might be particularly interested in knowing that our schools are being used to spread false, right-wing propaganda to our children. This part of the story hasn't been widely reported, so we need to get it out there.
Update [2006-9-7 11:40:22 by davidkc]:: .
The AP has a new story about the growing controversy. Here's the link on Yahoo. I don't like the headline's focus on "Clinton officials" protesting the movie, because it's also prominent congressmen and congresswomen, current Dem party leaders and regular Americans like us who are protesting the movie. But it's still good to see the story growing.