Ask WCVB Not to Air The 9/11 Lies and Distortions

keep up the pressure (0.00 / 0)

Good post, Andy. My post has already shuffled off the recent posts list. Apparently ABC has agreed to add a disclaimer to the movie, hopefully only a matter of time before some affiliates cancel it altogether.

Somerville for Instant Runoff Voting

---

by: Greg @ Wed Sep 06, 2006 at 21:46:25 PM CDT

Done and done. (0.00 / 0)

Think Progress is on it too.

This whole thing is just surreal. 

 

Beyond 495 - Reality-based Commentary With a True Blue Perspective
Deval Patrick has a posse.

---

by: Susan M @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 00:49:08 AM CDT

WCVB Forum? (0.00 / 0)

WCVB seems to allow some public discussion here, but so far I don't see anything about the 9/11 show.  Has anyone tried to start a new discussion topic on it?

---

by: DaveMB @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 06:53:46 AM CDT

I just went to the forum... (0.00 / 0)

but my work blocks the website for some reason!! Ugh.  I fired off my email this morning and plan on calling them later today.

A blogger no more.

---

by: Andy @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 09:19:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Isn't This the John O'Neill Story? (0.00 / 0)

There were warning signs in both administrations. Frontline did a piece on him.
What is in it that you don't like?

Charles Rudnick for State Senate

---

by: EB3 fka Ernie Boch III @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 09:35:26 AM CDT

I couldn't say what I don't like (0.00 / 0)

They won't let lefty types got a pre-release copy!!  I have no problem looking at Clinton's role because obviously he did have one given that Bush had only been president for a few months.  However to put all the blame on Clinton is ridiculous.  However it isn't necessarily the substance, because I haven't seen it yet, that bothers me.  I am very, very annoyed with the way ABC is handling the release.  There have been too many instances in which ABC has refused to deal with any left of center types about his film and that concerns me.

A blogger no more.

---

by: Andy @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 09:50:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Then Why Should lefty Types Get PreView? (5.00 / 1)

because Disney won't acknowlede lefty blogs?
Shouldn't you wait to see it, then comment on it?

Why try and force a media outlet to deep six it?
That seems, oh I don't know, fascist?

Charles Rudnick for State Senate

---

by: EB3 fka Ernie Boch III @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 12:27:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No (6.00 / 1)

It's responsible of us. If ABC airs something that is purely fictional right before a big race ('06) that is very partisan (it is), people will get the wrong idea, they might change their votes, even though many things are wrong or downright lies in it. Yes, they claim it's a "docudrama" whatever the hell THAT is, but the word "docu" makes people think it's mostly true.

It's been WELL DOCUMENTED by people who HAVE seen parts or much of the piece, that there's MADE UP SHIT in it. Sorry, but  if the righties can bitch and moan about a piece done on the Reagans (and win), we can be pretty upset at an obviously biased propaganda piece run just before a major election.

Left in Lowell: cuz why read the Lowell Sun if you don't have to? ;)

---

by: Lynne @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 12:53:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I haven't seen It. Have You? (0.00 / 0)

A made for TV movie. Tell me exactly what dialogue is wrong.

Charles Rudnick for State Senate

---

by: EB3 fka Ernie Boch III @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 13:50:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Give me a break (0.00 / 0)

So I have to SEE it to document the wrongness? Give me a break. It's been documented elsewhere. At first, these idiots were claiming it was truth based on the 9/11 Commission. Today, they admit to fictionalizing. Does that sound like a group of people who just have an "artistic vision" to you?

As I just posted in an update on my blog:
"It is severely disrespectful, at best, to fictionalize a tragedy we all experienced, only five years ago this coming Monday. What possible artistic or entertainment purpose could this piece ever serve, other than to lie to the American people about what happened and influence their vote?

The victims of 9/11, and this country which survived it, deserves a hell of a lot more respect. It’s appalling, it’s blatently politically motivated..."

Left in Lowell: cuz why read the Lowell Sun if you don't have to? ;)

---

by: Lynne @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 14:35:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Lynne, What Untruths Warrant Banishment? (0.00 / 0)

What specifically do you find so offensive that you support the efforts to have it banned?

Charles Rudnick for State Senate

---

by: EB3 fka Ernie Boch III @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 15:25:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Lynne, At Your Invitation I Just Read Your Blog,.... (0.00 / 0)

and links. Nowhere I have seen what the script says. I do see some crying about lefty blogs being ignored. Haha

Charles Rudnick for State Senate

---

by: EB3 fka Ernie Boch III @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 15:30:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ain't like it's some CLASSIC like Farenheit 911! (4.00 / 1)

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

---

by: Peter Porcupine @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 15:52:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

How can one ignore lefty blogs? (0.00 / 1)

Christ the high pitched whine is like a dog whistle.

---

by: gary @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 15:53:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And I suppose (0.00 / 0)

it was all good when the rightwingers were bitching at CBS about the Reagan biopic?

Please.

Beyond 495 - Reality-based Commentary With a True Blue Perspective
Deval Patrick has a posse.

---

by: Susan M @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 16:57:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

OK, I'll Be the One to Say It (0.00 / 0)

Two wrongs don't make a right

Charles Rudnick for State Senate

---

by: EB3 fka Ernie Boch III @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 18:19:17 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Reagan Series should have been shown also (0.00 / 0)

---

by: gary @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 19:50:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Bill Clinton is having none of it (0.00 / 0)

By way of dKos:

Bill Clinton strikes back.

Lots of linky goodness in that diary.  Lots of lefty blogs picking up the cause. 

 

Beyond 495 - Reality-based Commentary With a True Blue Perspective
Deval Patrick has a posse.

---

by: Susan M @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 10:02:18 AM CDT

TRO (0.00 / 0)

Prior restraint be damned.  Let's get Michael Moore on it!

---

by: gary @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 10:32:29 AM CDT

"Prior restraint"? (0.00 / 0)

Is anyone going to court to stop this thing?  Come on, gary.  No one has a constitutional right to have Channel 5 air a particular show.

---

by: David @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 10:58:44 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's a joke (0.00 / 0)

---

by: gary @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:03:08 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Welllll... (0.00 / 0)

Look, the 9/11 commission established that the plotting for the attacks began as far back as 1996.  While I'm more than willing to shovel blame toward the Bush administration for the criminally negligent way they treated the threat in early/mid-2001, if there is some blame to be bourne on the shoulders of the Clinton Administration, so be it.

I'd like all the arguments laid out on the table so we can continue to learn how to prevent a tragedy of this magnitude from ever happening again.  If Bill Clinton has a problem with anything said, well...it's not like he won't be able to find a podium somewhere to point that out.

---

by: Ed Prisby @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 10:32:40 AM CDT

Sure, (0.00 / 0)

but you won't get "all the arguments laid out on the table" from a fictionalized "docu-drama" produced by a right-wing activist.

---

by: David @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 10:58:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

so... (0.00 / 0)

so what did y'all think of Farenheight 9/11?

I hope your reaction was exactly the same!


the government can give you nothing
that it doesn't take away, first

---

by: demolisher @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:00:31 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

totally different (0.00 / 0)

You know, because fahrenheit 911 was totally true and this is totally not.

---

by: gary @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:06:57 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well (5.00 / 1)

Without conceding the point, Fahrenheit 9/11 was not broadcast on public airwaves.

Nor, I'm sure, was it used as a teaching tool by Scholastic.

---

by: Stealth @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:08:30 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Nor (0.00 / 0)

was anything credibly refuted from it.

Moore is biased and partisan, but no where in the whole damn movie did he pass off FICTION as FACT. Sure he picked and chose what to show, but there's a world of difference between bias and libel/slander.

Left in Lowell: cuz why read the Lowell Sun if you don't have to? ;)

---

by: Lynne @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 12:55:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I guess, but (0.00 / 0)

isn't that a decision I can make on my own?  If I don't like it, I'll change the channel, or debunk the thing on my blog or this one.

I don't like it when people, Republican or Democrat, tell me I shouldn't see something for my own good.  The conservatives on this site are right about this.  Would we think the same thing about the airing of Fahrenheit 9/11?  Isn't a petition to stop the airing of this special antithetical to the premise of BMG, whereby all points of view are expressed?

---

by: Ed Prisby @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:11:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Er (6.00 / 1)

Making up scenes which did not happen is not a point of view.  You can question Michael Moore's viewpoint, but none of the footage in his films is created by actors in a studio.

---

by: Stealth @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:19:06 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Point of view? History? ABC? (0.00 / 0)

There are so many things wrong with this. Welcoming all points of view is appropriate in a debate setting among openly partisan or opinionated individuals. This "docu-drama" is passed off as a non-partisan account broadcast on public airwaves for educational purposes, so no, it does not get a free pass for having "it's own point of view".

And oh by the way...how about the interesting timing with respect to the national elections?

No. Never mind. ABC's board of directors should be allowed to express their point of view.
/sarcasm

"The oldest ones are the young ones."

---

by: Will @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 15:19:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Adverts (0.00 / 0)

If you want to hit WCVB where it hurts, watch the local news tonight, write down the names of the advertizers, and call them and complain.

Also, anyone with kids should find out if their schools have received the materials from Scholastic.  ABC can maybe get away with airing a "docudrama," but do you think Scholastic will want its reputation tarnished from putting out false information?

---

by: Stealth @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:10:18 AM CDT

advertisers (6.00 / 1)

Some listed here.

Left in Lowell: cuz why read the Lowell Sun if you don't have to? ;)

---

by: Lynne @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 12:56:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

WCVB's Site (0.00 / 0)

Apparently, you cannot start a discussion at those forums, you can only "suggest" a discussion.  I did, but I have a feeling they won't be starting one.

---

by: Stealth @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:22:46 AM CDT

They say they have no choice? (5.00 / 1)

Josh Marshall reports that WCVB is telling viewers that they have no choice but to run the piece.  WCVB is owned by Hearst, a separate company from Disney/ABC, so this would appear not to be true, unless they mean that Hearst management gives the local Boston people no choice.  (There are numerous examples of non-network-owned stations declining to run particular network programming, such as the Sinclair stations that rejected the Nightline with the names of Iraq casualties.

With the Sinclair Swift Boat business in 2004, there was some evidence that local Springfield Channel 40 staff did not want to run the offending piece, but Sinclair insisted.

---

by: DaveMB @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 11:24:25 AM CDT

Remember the Reagan Miniseries? (6.00 / 4)

Neither do I.  The right-wing media machine had that dramatization cancelled because of what they called bias and factual innacuracies in the dialogue.

The difference here is that ABC is refusing to even let the subjects of the show see the script or screen the series.

---

by: Wookie @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 12:00:15 PM CDT

Thank you (0.00 / 0)

Exactly.

Left in Lowell: cuz why read the Lowell Sun if you don't have to? ;)

---

by: Lynne @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 12:57:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

How do y'all feel about Death of a President? (0.00 / 0)

A new film, being released in English and Arabic, it makes its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday.  It is a mockumentary depicting the assassination of President Bush, and its aftermath.

You all willing to protest that too?

Yr. Obedient Servant, Peter Porcupine, Republican

---

by: Peter Porcupine @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 15:56:46 PM CDT

I'm not (0.00 / 0)

for the same reason I'm not protesting this one.  And this is exactly why. 

For every TV show, movie, or "documentary," that comes out that a liberal has a problem with, there are probably two more that a conservative will have a problem with.  We could spend the rest of our lives having these discussions about what people should see, rather than simply letting people make up their own minds about what the they want to watch.

Someone made a point above about the Reagan movie, and thought that that example proved his point about why we shouldn't see THIS movie.  Actually, it doesn't prove that point at all.  Just the opposite!  I WANTED to see that Reagan movie, and thanks to conservative whining and bitching, I couldn't.

Now I might (might) want to see this one, but you guys have already made the decision that I shouldn't, based on....some reports on some blogs?  Protests by the Clinton administration?  Hey, less time flirting with interns, more time hunting terrorists, ok?  Short of libel, you get what you get on this one, Bubba.  And that goes for you too, W.

On top of all that, don't we have better things to worry about?  How many people died in Iraq today, anyway?

---

by: Ed Prisby @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 16:27:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well.. (6.00 / 1)

1.  It's labeled as and clearly is a mockumentary.

2.  It does not concern past events, particulary events so important as those leading up to the attacks on September 11th, 2001.

3.  It is not being broadcast on public airwaves two months before a national election.

---

by: Stealth @ Thu Sep 07, 2006 at 19:19:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Excellent question! (0.00 / 0)

Remarkable how bringing up a different film on a different issue in a different country somehow pierces straight to the heart of the current debate...

"The oldest ones are the young ones."

---

by: Will @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 15:25:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Contrast (4.00 / 1)

Watching the right complain about the Reagan mini-series and watching the left complain about 9/11 is great:

Right:  Pull the series or we'll never advertise with you again.  Plus, we'll burn your house and eat your children.

Left:  It's not fair, there's lies being told, there's an election coming up, what about the whales, well ok maybe it is fair I'm not sure, I only listen to NPR so it doesn't matter....

---

by: gary @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 10:35:44 AM CDT

No lies or distortions here (0.00 / 0)

Just a really good opinion commentary

---

by: gary @ Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 18:20:21 PM CDT