Progressive Democrat Issue 86: ABC TO AIR BUSH PROPOGANDA ON 9/11

There have been some partial victories in fighting ABC's right wing propoganda piece that blames Clinton for 9/11. But we still need to speak out.

Here are the current actions. Please do them today since tomorrow will be too late:


Media Matters reminds us that ABC was the network that refused to show Fahrenheit 9/11, but they are willing to show the right wing lies of Path to 9/11.

From Media Matters:

Disney reveals clear double standard on inaccurate, pro-conservative "docudrama"

As Media Matters for America has pointed out -- and nearly everyone from 9-11 Commission members and members of Congress to prominent conservative pundits and executives at ABC has already acknowledged -- Disney-owned ABC's upcoming "docudrama" The Path to 9/11 is a fabricated, inaccurate, and misleading portrayal of the events leading up to 9-11, one which Disney and ABC deceptively marketed as a documentary-style film based on the 9-11 Commission report.

It has become apparent in recent days that Disney's production is rife with factual errors, inaccuracies, and omissions, and it relies on scenes that even those involved in its production readily admit are fabricated. The movie's premise, reportedly, joins the cause of right-wing conservatives in blaming former President Bill Clinton for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while simultaneously letting President Bush off the hook.

But ABC's corporate parent, The Walt Disney Co., appears to be employing a double standard. It refused to distribute Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, which was highly critical of President Bush, even though it was produced by a Disney subsidiary, Miramax Films. Disney representatives also reportedly threatened to sue the publisher of James Stewart's book DisneyWar if it contained inaccuracies.

It does not speak well of Disney's credibility when it refuses to distribute a progressive movie and threatens legal action against some inaccuracies, and yet will stand silent while its ABC subsidiary spends millions of dollars making a miniseries that distorts history to falsely blame President Clinton for the 9-11 attacks.

Please contact Disney and urge it not to broadcast this false attack on President Clinton -- and remind it of its refusal to distribute a film critical of President Bush.

From MoveOn:

In a little over 48 hours, ABC will air a five-hour "docudrama" on the 9/11 attacks. The movie was written and produced by a right-wing activist who fabricated key scenes to blame Democrats and defend Republicans. It's so partisan that even Rush Limbaugh was surprised ABC decided to air it. And an FBI agent who was brought in to consult on the docudrama quit because, he said, "they were making things up."

Public outrage is mounting across the country, and Variety reports that ABC is now "mulling the idea of yanking the mini altogether."4 But we only have a little time to act. We'll start delivering this petition to ABC headquarters tomorrow at noon and continue as more signatures come in. So we're looking for 200,000 signatures TODAY.

Can you sign? Click here.

From Act for Change:

Since publishing our original action alert regarding ABC's inaccurate and biased "docu-drama" to be broadcast on Sept. 10th and 11th, we've learned even more disturbing details about the show - which is scheduled to occupy six hours of prime time television, less that two months before an important national election.

* The film - written by an avowed conservative activist - was provided in advance to approximately 900 right-wing bloggers and media personalities such as Rush Limbaugh. However, former President Bill Clinton and two of his cabinet officials were denied when they requested preview copies of the film. Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright has called the film - which includes several scenes with no basis in reality -- "false and defamatory."

* In response to mounting pressure, the film's producers are making some small changes...but according to conservative blogger Hugh Hewitt, "blame on the Clinton team is in the DNA of the project and could not be eradicated."

* ABC has teamed up with Scholastic Inc., a company that sells textbooks, to send letters to 100,000 teachers across the country offering free copies of the film and "study guides," despite the fact that the film is a "docu-drama" in which important facts and events have simply been invented out of thin air.

From these latest developments, it's become clear that this film was intended from the start to convince unknowing viewers that a false and conservative view of history is in fact the truth; lay blame at Bill Clinton's feet (while completely omitting mention of the dozens of antiterrorism measures he tried to enact); and propagandize America's schoolchildren with fiction masquerading as fact. It's simply unacceptable.


Call to action:
Tell ABC, Disney and Scholastic executives that fictionalized, "blame-Clinton-first" accounts of Sept. 11th have no place on our public airwaves OR in our public schools.

Deadline:
9/10/2006

I believe that Scholastic has already backed off, but ABC has not. I suggest going ahead and doing the Act for Change action because it will re-enforce Scholastic's decision to back off and may help change ABC's mind.

FAIR's Counter Spin is fighting back by having a counter-program examining the myths of 9/11, including the ABC program's lies. From FAIR:

Five years after the September 11 attacks, FAIR's radio show CounterSpin takes a look at media myths of the events versus reality. First up, "The Path to 9/11," an ABC docudrama scheduled to air on September 10th and 11th, is being billed by ABC as "an objective telling of the events of 9/11." But early reports suggest it's a right-wing take on events that pleases White House supporters while mangling recent history and laying the blame for 9/11 on the Clinton administration. CounterSpin speaks with Sheldon Rampton, research director of the Center for Media and Democracy, about the show—and why Disney-owned ABC would air such a politically partisan program.

Also on the show: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend," goes the famous movie line, and that could describe media's treatment of former New York city mayor Rudolph Giuliani's much-vaunted performance during the World Trade Center attack five years ago. The troubling truth, according to a new book, is that the story that Giuliani has told—and that the press has repeated—about September 11th and his actions that day doesn't square with actual events. We talk with Wayne Barrett, co-author of the new book Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11, about the reality behind the distorted picture of Giuliani's actions that day.

Listen to the show online.

CounterSpin can be heard on more than 125 noncommercial stations across the United States and Canada—find your station here.

You can also subscribe to our podcast.