Disney is in Big Trouble

John Aravosis has a nice rundown of what might be coming next.

Protests Outside of Disney HQ, Secret Cash from Right-wing evangelicals?

There are protests outside of Disney HQ today.



And Max Blumenthal has compelling research about the secretive right-wing Film Institute.

"The Path to 9/11" is produced and promoted by a well-honed propaganda operation consisting of a network of little-known right-wingers working from within Hollywood to counter its supposedly liberal bias. This is the network within the ABC network. Its godfather is far right activist David Horowitz, who has worked for more than a decade to establish a right-wing presence in Hollywood and to discredit mainstream film and TV production. On this project, he is working with a secretive evangelical religious right group founded by The Path to 9/11's director David Cunningham that proclaims its goal to "transform Hollywood" in line with its messianic vision.

Read the post by Blumenthal. It's exceptional.

ABC Lying About Path to 9/11

This is ridiculous. ABC said this week that it was irresponsible for people to criticize the film since the film isn't done being edited. Yet earlier this month, ABC told the National Review that the film was "locked and ready to air."

Scholastic Drops Their Distribution Plans

Good for them.

Morning Updates

The Families of 9/11 came out with a statement:

As we mark five years since 9/11, we are inundated with the media's portrayal of that tragic day. Television miniseries, Hollywood films, comic books and countless "documentaries" are dramatizing and sometimes distorting the events leading up to and happening on 9/11.

Families of September 11 believes the best way to honor those who were lost is to make sure that what happened to them never happens again. As such, we must understand exactly what took place, and not allow "entertainers" to promote misleading or incorrect information as fact to the public.

If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. Any depiction of 9/11 that is not accurate and factual propagates myths, myths that may cause us future harm.

Bill Clinton is furious.

Congresswoman Slaughter and Congressman Pascrell are calling a press conference today titled 'Slaughter and Pascrell to Call on Scholastic and ABC to Keep 9-11 Docudrama Out of Schools'.

ABC affiliates are on the run, and now the movie is apparently in its final stage of edits. Interesting how they sent out advance copies at least a week ago, and now the movie is suddenly still in production.

Howie Kurtz on the Controversy

It's a pretty good piece.

Top officials of the Clinton administration have launched a preemptive strike against an ABC-TV "docudrama," slated to air Sunday and Monday, that they say includes made-up scenes depicting them as undermining attempts to kill Osama bin Laden.

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."

ABC's entertainment division said the six-hour movie, "The Path to 9/11," will say in a disclaimer that it is a "dramatization . . . not a documentary" and contains "fictionalized scenes." But the disclaimer also says the movie is based on the Sept. 11 commission's report, although that report contradicts several key scenes.

Berger said in an interview that ABC is "certainly trying to create the impression that this is realistic, but it's a fabrication."

ABC needs to cancel this fraud.

Did Scholastic Inc. Drop Its 9/11 Propaganda?

Scholastic Inc is the educational distribution partner for ABC, pushing out the docudrama-related educational materials throughout the country. Richard Cranium points out that the materials are no longer linked from the Scholastic Inc. website. Media Matters has background on the materials, which are pretty awful. If Scholastic did decide to drop their distribution plans, good for them.

ABC Lying About the Source Material for the Film

According to this diary, ABC affiliates are sending emails out on the film that something along the following lines.

As stated by an ABC Spokesperson, "'The Path to 9/11" is a dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources, including the 9/11 commission report, other published materials and from personal interviews.

ABC Producers are saying that the film is based on the 9/11 Commission report, not the 9/11 Commission report and other sources. But they are also telling some reporters that the film is based solely on the 9/11 Commission report. Here's an email that Mekeisha Madden of the Detroit News sent to a commenter who asked him about why he reported that the film was based on the 9/11 Commission report.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 17:07:14 -0400
From: "Madden, Mekeisha"
To:
Subject: RE: Mistake in your story

Thank you for your email. This is an issue for ABC as they are the ones
who claim to be basing their movie on 9/11 commission's reports.

So ABC is telling reporters that the film is based on the 9/11 Commission work, that it's based on the 9/11 Commission report and other sources, and that it's fictionalized. And Tom Kean says that the film is 'reasonably accurate', but that it's also not accurate.

ABC needs to pull this film.

A Few Updates

TPM Cafe has confirmation that Clinton never got a copy of the film.

ABC is telling reporters the film is based on the 9/11 Commission report. Liars.

This is pathetic. Shame on ABC.

On Disney's Ties to the Political Right

Digby has an imporant post on Disney's behavior with regards to partisan politics and liberalism. Disney likes to hide behind the veneer of being a liberal entertainment company, and is only too happy to have wingnuts like Hugh Hewitt publishing internal emails pretending like Disney is a bunch of hippy Clinton-loving liberals. The record is starkly different.

Disney blocked its Miramax division from distributing a Michael Moore film, claiming that "it's not in the interest of any major corporation to be dragged into a highly charged partisan political battle." Disney executives are high dollar donors to Bush, were going to make holocaust-denier and anti-semite Mel Gibson's nonfiction miniseries series on the holocaust, and canceled a reality show with a gay couple because James Dobsen threatened to pull his support for the conservative movie and expensive potential franchise movie Narnia. Does this sound like a bunch of liberals to you? I don't think so.

Disney/ABC is a major multinational corporation with deep political interests. Their most prominent political demand is for an extreme copyright extension, and they even have a law named after their signature character, Mickey Mouse, whose likeness should have passed into the public domain a long time ago. At this point it's simply political corruption that allows Disney to profit from works that are part of public popular culture, and we know which party is home to political corruption and blind corporate support.

Richard Iger, watch where you're treading.

Entertainment Reviewers Chime In

This diary at Kos has run down the reviews from the entertainment press. Apparently the Path to 9/11, aside from being a movie based on right-wing fabrications, isn't very good.

DNC Sending Out an Email, Politicians Sending Letters

The Democratic National Committee is sending out this email asking people to keep the movie off the air. It links to this site.

Meanwhile, Representatives John Conyers, Jr., John Dingell, Jane Harman, and Louise Slaughter are demanding that ABC correct the factual inaccuracies in the movie.

It's not strictly partisan, as Bush's top counterterrorism official has sharply criticized the movie.

More on the ABC 'Path to 9/11' Blog

We noted yesterday that the Path to 9/11 blog wasn't actually allowing new comments. They have set up a moderated system where the blog author must approve comments before they are posted publicly, and the author didn't approve any new commens.

Apparently that changed. Since yesterday at 3:31pm, the Path blog has allowed two whole new comments to be posted, one in favor of the film and one neutral but interested.

Way to encourage that free-wheeling debate!

Kean Backing Off Support of 'Path to 9/11'

So we have this quote from Tom Kean.

Neither Berger nor Ben-Veniste was consulted on the film. Kean, however, is an official adviser; he says the incident was a fictionalized composite. It was "representative of a series of events compacted into one," he replied to Ben-Veniste at the time. In a phone interview a few days later, he added, "It's reasonably accurate."

And then there's this one.

Mr. Kean conceded that some points might have been more drama than documentary. “Some of the people shown there probably weren’t there,” he said.

So Kean acknowledges errors in the film. I wonder if he's still ok with sending out 100,000 letters to educators under his name encouraging the use of this film in classrooms, knowing that the film is inaccurate.

Path to 9/11 Blog Blocking Comments

Ok, I tried putting up a comment over at the Path to 9/11 blog, to no avail. The site hasn't allowed a new comment to be put up since 3:31pm.

Hmm, so it's a blog that has comments enabled, only when you post the comment it doesn't show up. It's kind of like the producer asking people not to criticize the movie until they see it, while not actually showing it to people who might want to criticize it until it airs to the nation.

How fitting.

Dkos Found Us

We're not live, but apparently we are now since this diarist at Dkos found us. Pardon our appearance.

Let's remember that Bush was warned of the threat prior to 9/11, and did nothing, according to Bob Kerrey, who was on the 9/11 Commission.

I wonder if Tom Kean Sr thinks this is 'reasonably' accurate.

Why did ABC/Disney create a $40 million miniseries, lie about its sourcing, and refuse to sell advertising? Digby guesses that this may be extortion to protect their Narnia franchise from the religious right.

Regardless, this is not a very profitable business model. What is going on at Disney?

CQ has an important article out. According to Richard Ben-Veniste, another Commissioner, significant scenes from the movie are fabricated.

And Kean stands by them.

Neither Berger nor Ben-Veniste was consulted on the film. Kean, however, is an official adviser; he says the incident was a fictionalized composite. It was “representative of a series of events compacted into one,” he replied to Ben-Veniste at the time. In a phone interview a few days later, he added, “It’s reasonably accurate.” And he offered a prediction that the show will “get just as many howls from Republicans.”

ABC's blog is back up, and boy are they defensive. Thinkprogress has documented more lies coming from the movie. Shameful.

On Tom Kean Sr

Well this is surprising. Tom Kean Sr's reputation as a well-respected Republican is coming under attack from locals. Bluejersey goes over Kean's legacy of voter suppression, his misuse of his position as a Board Member of United Health to force company executives to donate to his son, and his misuse of Drew University's (where Kean is President) funds to indirectly solicit monies for his son's political career.

Kean Sr is dirty. It's not surprising that he'll add his name to this 9/11-related fraud.

Representative Slaughter Speaks Out

Disney/ABC is upsetting some very high-profile Democrats with this propaganda. Here's Slaughter's statement.

"ABC has a responsibility to make clear that this film is not a documentary, and does not represent an official account of the facts surrounding the September 11th attacks," Rep. Slaughter said. "Disclaimers noting that The Path to 9/11 is a docudrama should be shown throughout its airing. We have yet to establish the impartiality and accuracy of the people behind this film and the claims it advances, and the American people need to know that."

Rep. Slaughter also expressed concern over the timing of the mini-series, as well as recent Republican rhetoric on the issue of national security and its connection to the war in Iraq.

"But what is far more important is the timing of this movie," Rep. Slaughter continued. "The anniversary of the attacks is an emotional time, and it is wrong for anyone to play on those emotions and use them to advance a political agenda."

Frequently Asked Questions

1) What is this controversy about?

On September 10 and 11, ABC Television is planning to run a historically inaccurate film called 'The Path to 9/11' depicting the events leading up to the 9/11 attacks. The film was written by a conservative activist who has called Michael Moore an 'out of control Socialist weasel', and who has an avowed conservative agenda.

2) How is this film inaccurate?

'The Path to 9/11' largely places the blame for failing to prevent the attacks on the Clinton administration while whitewashing the failures of the Bush administration.

One key scene involves Clinton National Security advisor Sandy Berger refusing to order the CIA to take out bin Laden, a frequently cited right-wing fabrication that has been discredited, most recently by Richard Clarke.

We would document other inaccuracies, but preview copies of the film have not been sent to left-wing bloggers. As copies trickle out, we will put a blogroll up on the side of this side linking to inaccuracies that have been uncovered.

3) Why is this significant?

Aside from the tragic dishonesty surrounding 9/11 inherent in the film, there is a massive marketing push to turn this film into an established version of what happened. The film is being marketed as 'an objective telling of the events of 9/11, and promos for the film are claiming that it is largely based on the 9/11 Commission report. Republican Tom Kean Sr has been a prominent and public advisor to the project, but no Democratic members of the 9/11 Commission have been represented.

While marketed aggressively through advance copies among right-wing bloggers, radio hosts, and pundits, no left-wing bloggers have been given access to the film until this week, and left-wing bloggers were nearly prevented from attending a press conference with Tom Kean Sr advocating on behalf of the film.

Finally, ABC is planning to distribute this film free through iTunes and ABC.com, with a letter from Tom Kean Sr. to 100,000 educators encouraging the use of this film for educational purposes.

4) What are you looking for?

We are looking for ABC to take the following steps.

- ABC needs to remove outright fabrications in the film, or refuse to air it. We will try to catalogue link to those debunking errors in the film. So far, Thinkprogress is the most comprehensive site.

- Prior to airing the film, ABC should explicitly call this a work of fiction, and say that this does not represent the findings of the 9/11 Commission. ABC should stop using any and all promotional material linking the film to the 9/11 Commission findings.

- ABC should publicly list the marketing operators responsible for hiding this film from left-wing opinion leaders.

- ABC should not send 100,000 letters to educators, or should send follow-up letters warning educators about the inaccuracies in the film.

5) Why would ABC do this?

Honestly, we're not sure. Disney/ABC is either unaware of the political ramifications of airing this fabrication, or is willfully and maliciously producing and distributing false propaganda. We hope that Robert Iger, President of Disney, considers his reputation and that of Disney and ABC before allowing this to be aired.

6) Why would Tom Kean lend his reputation to such a film?

We assume it's because Tom Kean Sr's son, whose name is also Tom Kean, is running for Senate in New Jersey, largely based on his father's reputation. Tom Kean Jr. has for instance droppd the 'Jr' from his campaign's website. We're not entirely sure why Tom Kean Sr. decided to throw away his reputation on such a sordid propaganda piece, but that's our best guess.

7) Who are you?

We are a group of activists that are trying to provide one place for content about the controversy over the film 'Path to 9/11'. You can contact us at openlettertoabc@gmail.com.

The Path to 9/11, to be aired over the weekend of September 10 and 11 on ABC, is a historically inaccurate portrayal of a national tragedy.

Here is why we protest the airing of this film on so sensitive a topic.

1) This film contains outright fabrications that are not in the 9/11 Commission report.

2) None of the Democratic commissioners on the bipartisan 9/11 Commission have certified this film.

3) No left-wing bloggers were given an advance screening, though many right-wing bloggers and pundits have seen copies of the film. Right-wing ideologues have loudly pronounced their satisfaction with the film. The failure to allow left-wingers to critique this film prior to its screening means that the political slant will be clear.

4) ABC removed its blog discussing controversies with the film. When the blog was functional, the blog writers were stating outright lies to justify not showing the film to liberals. Update: The blog has returned, lies intact.

We are asking ABC and its parent company Disney for four things to remedy this shameful right-wing propaganda.

1) ABC needs to remove the outright fabrications in the film.

2) ABC should explicitly call this a work of fiction, and say that this does not represent the findings of the 9/11 Commission.

3) ABC should publicly list the marketing operators responsible for hiding this film from left-wing opinion leaders.

4) ABC should refuse to send out this film as an educational aid for students in understanding recent American history.