(no subject)

[novapsyche]

Despite Clinton having his lawyers send a letter to Disney/ABC urging them to correct their miniseries about 9/11 or not air it, they refuse to take either action. Note also that the miniseries is being aired "without commercial interruption," so there is no way to make any leverage on advertisers to pull their funding.

The only way to protest the airing is to contact your local ABC affiliate as well as ABC directly (their Audience Relations line is 818-460-7477), and also to contact Disney. (There is a petition aimed at Disney's CEO, Robert Iger.)

I called WXYZ here in Detroit and expressed my hope that they would not air it unless it was corrected. (If you're local and would like the number to their programming department, it is 248-827-9302.) I asked the lady who took my call if they had received other calls about it, and apparently they have, but she couldn't tell me how heavy the response has been.

Also note that Disney is pairing with Scholastic (of all companies!) to distribute the miniseries to schools as "teaching tools." This is a miniseries that purports to be based on the report issued by the 9/11 commission, yet ABC admits that it inserts completely fictionalized portions, scenes and segments that give it a very slanted, very biased view that portrays the Clinton administration as "dropping the ball" on terrorism. This will be shown to the next generation of voters. It will be what they remember about the Clinton administration.

Comments

[xterminal.livejournal.com]

This will be shown to the next generation of voters. It will be what they remember about the Clinton administration.

Hell, all THIS generation remembers is the Lewinsky thing.

"We bombed Iraq in 1998!"
"No, we didn't!"

What I don't understand-- and it's not just this, but the whole wider scope of "docudrama" (and the associated big recent "fictional memoir" blowup)-- is how people can look at these things, whether they're factually presented or not, and figure that they're real. In this case, it's a slam-dunk no-brainer-- that's not Bill Clinton playing Bill Clinton, is it? Then how can it possibly be the real deal? At best, it's a recreation that's been filtered through a scriptwriter, a director, a producer, and an editor, and that's four different (and possibly opposing) viewpoints that have the power to shape the events they're portraying. I understand WHY Disney would be saying to schools "here, use this as a teaching tool"-- because it's a great marketing strategy. I don't understand ho teachers can use it as such without even mentioning the fact that this is a recreation and may not-- hell, cannot-- be "the absolute truth."

Shit, I know people who are still convinced that the oxone layer will be gone by 1990, just like MTV told us...

(obviously, I'm agreeing with you here, not arguing. Just venting a bit...)

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

They better stop it with the Slick Willy hating, they'll be in a world of hurt.

[kittenkissies.livejournal.com]

I don't think it should be shown, either, but any blocking of it seems like there is something to hide. This is just another pesky mosquito.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

Are you saying that it's okay for a national broadcast channel to air something that smacks of propaganda weeks before a crucial election that may sway voters?

I wouldn't have a problem with the show airing, if it didn't claim to be based on the 9/11 commission report yet insert highly inaccurate 'dramatizations.' Especially as it's being broadcast on the anniversary of the attacks. If ABC would take steps to correct the film so that it more accurately describes what actually took place historically, then I would withdraw my objections to its airing.

IMO, this would be like encouraging students to watch Birth of a Nation without an explanation as to the obvious biases of the writer and the director. Even when Turner Classic Movies--not a public channel--aired that film earlier this year, the channel took the responsibility to preface and follow the show with an interview with a historian who put the film in its proper cultural and historical context.

Broadcast media, especially television, has a real power to shape not just opinions but perceptions about reality. To knowingly insert false representations of such a major national event into the public consciousness is not just reprehensible, it's also irresponsible as it risks damaging the emerging national discourse on a subject that still warrants examination in order for the populace to heal.

[kittenkissies.livejournal.com]

I had this argument with my wife.
The whole television industry needs to be revamped.
Will it be? No, not as long as many fundamentalist, and junkfood thought and food corporations control it...
So, like with everything else, one has to watch the fucking thing take place and then do spin control.
We are all toys.

[quility.livejournal.com]

I signed the petition to Iger/ABC.
thank you