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Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself

David Brock of Media Matters writes a great letter to ABC and Disney. First, he lists the film's major errors:

In fact, the miniseries was so rife with errors that even some conservatives spoke out against it. The first part of the film not only misrepresents some Clinton administration officials but also provides false depictions of others, including, reportedly, former FBI counterterrorism expert John O'Neill, who died on September 11, 2001, in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, where he was head of security.

The second half of the miniseries, which aired on September 11, also contained scenes that were factually inaccurate, this time showing President Bush taking aggressive action there is no indication he ever took. For example, in the film, Vice President Dick Cheney, after conversing with Bush over the phone immediately following the crash of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, announced: "The president has just given the shoot-down order." Vanity Fair published an analysis of the recordings from the control room at NORAD's Northeast headquarters from September 11, 2001, indicating that Bush did not actually give the order to shoot down the hijacked airplanes; he authorized military commanders to make the decision themselves, and he did not grant that authorization until 41 minutes after Flight 77 had struck the Pentagon.

Next, is Brock's demand for an explanation of why they aired it.

He finishes with a renewed offer to help prevent such missteps in the future.

Americans need to trust that ABC/Disney will not inject thinly veiled conservative propaganda into their homes. That trust has been severely compromised after the overtly partisan choices that were made in the creation and airing of this production.

At the outset of this controversy, Media Matters tried to help ABC and Disney dispel any controversy surrounding this film by offering to review and evaluate its accuracy prior to its scheduled air date. That offer received no response.

We are once again offering to work with ABC and Disney in the aftermath of this controversy in order to ensure that these types of mistakes and misjudgments do not happen again. I hope that this can be the beginning of an important dialogue between Media Matters and ABC.

Here's why ABC and Disney should accept Brock's offer:

Working together, we can ensure that Americans are once again able to trust that the major TV networks, who are allowed to use the public's airwaves free of charge, are not propagandizing or rewriting history to favor one political party or another.

Media Matters has been rocking lately. If you don't read them every day, you're really missing out.

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    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Sep 13, 2006 at 02:54:58 PM EST
    ABC and Scholastic release skewed Path to 9/11 "Discussion Guide" for high school teachers to assign to students - by "J.M." What are they telling your child about the 9/11/01 attacks in your local school? ---edger

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#1)
    by Gabriel Malor on Wed Sep 13, 2006 at 10:04:34 PM EST
    Assuming for the sake of argument that the "major TV networks" should be policed in some manner so as to not propagandize, I'm doubtful that an organization with this mission statement is the right one for the job. I have excerpted and highlighted the important part:
    Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
    If David Brock and Media Matters were really serious about ensuring that the major TV networks were "not propagandizing or rewriting history to favor one political party or another" we would hope that their mission would be to correct all misinformation, not just conservative misinformation.

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#3)
    by cpinva on Wed Sep 13, 2006 at 10:04:34 PM EST
    TL, i feel bad bursting your bubble, but here goes. if media matters was "rocking", abc would have trashed the show, period. clearly, they didn't. they made some nominal changes to the original, yet aired it in its entirety, factual misrepresentations and all. that's hardly "rocking". don't get me wrong, i read media matters daily, i have for a couple of years now. i find it insightful and illuminating, though i might not always agree with their analysis. that said, as near as i can tell, in that time frame, they've had little to no concrete impact on the media they report on. none, zilch, nada. o'reilly, limbaugh, hannity and coulter still spew their inane garbage over the airwaves. the likes of russert, et al still fail to ask pointed questions of their guests, or correct them when they're obviously lying or dissembling. to be fair to mr. brock, he has a hard roe to hoe; the MSM only understands one thing: money. cash. greenbacks. absent an affect on that, and they could care less what mr. brock, or you or i think. they don't have to. and so, they'll continue to spew nonsense to the rubes, who'll continue to lap it up, like greedy kittens taking milk from a bowl, not realizing it isn't good for them. unless you, or mr. brock or someone has an effective way to force the media to start doing its job, it won't. why should it? this way has been very profitable for them so far. got any legitimate suggestions, as to what those of modest means, and no contact with the powers that be, can do?

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Sep 13, 2006 at 10:04:34 PM EST
    Disney has not listened to anyone yet. They have loaded their exec staff with very conservative people who think this type of presentation is just fine and dandy. Disney does not care what we think!

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Sep 13, 2006 at 10:04:34 PM EST
    I belong to Media Matters. As in getting emails and reading them. posting. I am boycotting ABC until they correct publicly thier misguided trip down Rove lane and drinking thier koolaide.

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 07:13:34 AM EST
    Americans need to trust that ABC/Disney will not inject thinly veiled conservative propaganda into their homes. This is laughable ...seeing how they inject thinly veiled liberal propaganda in on a nightly basis. I look at this as a feeble attempt to get more "fair & balanced". They still have a looooong way to go however.

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#7)
    by soccerdad on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 07:39:36 AM EST
    BB have any examples to back up your empty BS or just blindly playing the liberal MSM card?

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 08:24:36 AM EST
    I wonder if I just post this without filling in a name and email address if it will go through. I have been going through TL withdrawal. There is a very small cabal of people who are desparately trying to gain and keep power by controlling the world resources. They are manipulating our opinions through propaganda and mis-information campaigns. When that is not good enough they resort to undermining our elections. These people are commonly referred to as neocons and they are not beholden to the US and our constituion but to some other entity that keeps the wealth and power in as few of hands as possible, so as to keep their hold and influence in the world at maximum levels. I don't know how deep it goes. I am being cautious when I say I don't accept the official version of what happened on Sept 11, 2001. When I open myself to charges that I am a conspiracy theorist/kook and am more bold, I can believe that the attacks were manipuilated and orchestrated through the efforts of this cabal. There is so much evidence that points to this, but recently I was sent this magazine by a friend and I now know I have been taken as a fool by someone along with many other people. Maybe I ahve been taken to be a fool by the Scholars for truth. Maybe, by someone else. I think someone else and that does not bode well for our future. global outlook Peaches

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#9)
    by Sailor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 09:12:16 AM EST
    This is laughable ...seeing how they inject thinly veiled liberal propaganda in on a nightly basis.
    bb, provide links. Anyone wonder how the right would explode if abc showed this movie about the assassination of bush on our PUBLIC airwaves?

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#10)
    by Gabriel Malor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 10:33:09 AM EST
    These people are commonly referred to as neocons and they are not beholden to the US and our constituion but to some other entity that keeps the wealth and power in as few of hands as possible...
    I don't know how deep it goes.
    So, we're talking aliens, right? Maybe purple-blooded, brain-sucking amoebas from the clouds of Glzanue? I know, blood-drinking lizards from outer space!! Here are some simple rules that always help me clarify my thinking. I've pretty much stolen them from other, better men and women than me. 1. Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred. 1a. Never assume a massive, yet invisible conspiracy to control everything when petty evil will do. 1b. Never assume evil when simple stupidity and incompetence will do. 2. When a venerable, old scientist says that something is possible, he's usually right. When a venerable, old scientist says that something is impossible, he's probably wrong. 3. Understand that, whatever it is you're doing, pretty soon someone is going to tell you to stop it. And when things are getting pretty messed up: 4. There is nothing you can do to undo the past. So look ahead. Or risk being left behind.

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 10:33:09 AM EST
    Peaches: There is a very small cabal of people who are desparately trying to gain and keep power by controlling the world resources. They are manipulating our opinions through propaganda and mis-information campaigns. When that is not good enough they resort to undermining our elections... I don't know how deep it goes. Peaches, when I get home tonight I'll try to post a link to an online book about this. What you are referring to goes back to the JFK assassination, and earlier. It is real... ---edger

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 10:57:21 AM EST
    Of course, if you do lean towards wild-eyed paranoia and conspiracy theories you might start believing in great ideological struggles 'we did nothing to invite' and nonexistent wmd's in Iraq and boogeymen in every closet and under your bed wanting to blow you up or cut off your head just because 'they hate our freedoms'... ---edger

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#13)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 10:58:09 AM EST
    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#14)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 11:02:42 AM EST
    edger - Scholastic withdrew the guide, bowing to pressure from the Left.

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 11:11:41 AM EST
    "Let us not tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th -- malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists themselves, away from the guilty." ~ George W. Bush, 2001-11-10, speaking before the UN General Assembly
    I agree. Bush's version of what happened on 9/11 is the most outrageous of all the conspiracy theories as I will show in this essay and the evidence it links to.
    What really happened on Sept. 11th? "9/11 -- Part 1"
    For four months I've been waiting in vain for the North American media to pursue questions about the startling events of September 11th. Here's what I want to know: The multiple hijackings are unprecedented. The first occurs at 7:45 in the morning. It's a full hour before the first plane hits the World Trade Center. But it's an hour and 20 minutes -- and after the second plane hits - that the President allegedly becomes informed. Think about that. Then, he gives no orders. Why? He continues to listen to a student talk about her pet goat. Why? It's another 25 minutes until he makes a statement, even as flight 77 is making a bee-line for Washington, DC. In the almost two hours of the total drama not a single U.S. Air Force interceptor turns a wheel until it's too late. Why? Was it total incompetence on the part of aircrews trained and equipped to scramble in minutes? Well, unlike the U.S. Air Force, I'll cut to the chase. Simply to ask these few questions is to find the official narrative frankly implausible. The more questions you pursue, it becomes more plausible that there's a different explanation: namely, that elements within the top U.S. military, intelligence and political leadership - which are closely intertwined - are complicit in what happened on September the 11th. Why U.S. complicity, you ask?
    ---edger

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#16)
    by Sailor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 11:30:29 AM EST
    Scholastic withdrew the guide, bowing to pressure from the Left.
    And republicans and historians and fbi agents and members of the 9/11 commission. And no, they didn't withdraw the guide, they rewrote it:
    We have rewritten this guide to focus more sharply on the issues of the docudrama as well as the background events.


    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 11:35:26 AM EST
    What Are You So Afraid Of?
    Sex? Gays? Terrorists? God? In BushCo's fear-drunk world, only one question really matters.
    Never be afraid to ask questions. ---edger

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#18)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 11:41:41 AM EST
    1. Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred.
    Let's see, 19 jihadists with boxcutters, poor flying skills, and a penchant for lap dances kill 3000 people. They leave a car with flight manuals and a koran illegally parked at the airport. And one of their passports survives the fiery inferno and is found at the scene while the black boxes are not. Yeah, that sounds more believable than blood drinking lizards from outer space.
    1a. Never assume a massive, yet invisible conspiracy to control everything when petty evil will do.
    Petty evil is what drives the massive, invisible conspiracies.
    1b. Never assume evil when simple stupidity and incompetence will do.
    Good advice, the hijackers would seem to qualify more for the stoopid tag. As for the other side, are the Bushies more evil or incompetent? That's a tough call, I would say it's about even.
    2. When a venerable, old scientist says that something is possible, he's usually right. When a venerable, old scientist says that something is impossible, he's probably wrong.
    And this is supposed to quash conspiracy theories?

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 02:35:57 PM EST
    I won't say I was just fooling y'all. but, I was really just seeing if I could post something and I've been reading lots of stuff on 9/11 lately. I find any explanaition of what happened on 9/11 difficult to accept, because the whole thing was just too surreal. I know 3000 people died and all that. It was horrible, no doubt. But explaining how? My first reaction that afternoon (I was in New York-but upstate in Albany, might as well been in MN)to 19 guys with boxcutters was, "sheesus, I could have got 19 guys together and hatched a plan like that. How the hell do 19 guys pull something off of this magnitude?" Anyway, I have a difficult enough time explaining, comprehending - let alone proving my own existence. Funny thing was, I post that and then go check my favorite essayists biweekly column and what do you think he is writing on?... 9/11 conspiracies. Great minds think alike-even if we draw different conclusions ;) Peaches

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 03:38:27 PM EST
    9/11 Conspiracy Theorists Are Building Their Case Against the Government From Ground Zero
    "There was massive complicity in this attack by U.S. government operatives." If that feels like a skip off the cliff of established reality, more Americans are in free fall than you might guess. There are few more startling measures of American distrust of leaders than the widespread belief that the Bush administration had a hand in the attacks of Sept. 11 in order to spark an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. A recent Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll of 1,010 Americans found that 36 percent suspect the U.S. government promoted the attacks or intentionally sat on its hands. Sixteen percent believe explosives brought down the towers. Twelve percent believe a cruise missile hit the Pentagon. Distrust percolates more strongly near Ground Zero. A Zogby International poll of New York City residents two years ago found 49.3 percent believed the government "consciously failed to act."
    ---edger

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Sep 14, 2006 at 07:05:23 PM EST
    Peaches - Here is the (online version) book I mentioned earlier today... THE TAKING OF AMERICA, 1-2-3 by Richard E. Sprague Limited First Edition 1976 Revised Second Edition 1979 Updated Third Edition 1985 From the introduction:
    This book is not about assassinations, at least not solely about assassinations. It is not just another book about who murdered President Kennedy or how or why. It is a book about power, about who really controls the United States policies, especially foreign policies. It is a book about the process of control through the manipulation of the American presidency and the presidential election process. The objective of the book is to expose the clandestine, secret, tricky methods and weapons used for this manipulation, and to reveal the degree to which these have been hidden from the American public. ... But the important thing to understand is the control and the power and all of the clandestine methods put together. Much of the information in the book has been published before in the magazines Computer and Automation and People and the Pursuit of Truth, both edited and published by Edmund C. Berkeley, Newtonville, Mass. ... References to documentation of this evidence are given throughout the book. The book is dedicated to Representative Henry B. Gonzalez for his singular courage in standing against the forces of evil.
    ---Posted by edger, Sept. 14/06

    Re: Letter to Disney and ABC: Heal Thyself (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 15, 2006 at 06:16:00 PM EST
    Thanks Edger, It looks interesting. I am contemplating printing the book off at this minute. Boss isn't in yet, but a lot of pages. Might as well - [PRINT] OK Another stack of papers to bring home and scatter in my office. ~ Peaches