This is a serious slapdown. Emphasis from AmericaBlog:

September 7, 2006

Mr. Robert A. Iger
President and CEO
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank CA 91521

Dear Mr. Iger,

We
write with serious concerns about the planned upcoming broadcast of The
Path to 9/11 mini-series on September 10 and 11. Countless reports from
experts on 9/11 who have viewed the program indicate numerous and
serious inaccuracies that will undoubtedly serve to misinform the
American people about the tragic events surrounding the terrible
attacks of that day. Furthermore, the manner in which this program has been developed, funded, and advertised suggests a partisan bent unbecoming of a major company like Disney and a major and well respected news organization like ABC. We
therefore urge you to cancel this broadcast to cease Disney’s plans to
use it as a teaching tool in schools across America through Scholastic.
Presenting such deeply flawed and factually inaccurate misinformation
to the American public and to children would be a gross miscarriage of
your corporate and civic responsibility to the law, to your
shareholders, and to the nation.

The Communications Act of 1934
provides your network with a free broadcast license predicated on the
fundamental understanding of your principle obligation to act as a trustee

of the public airwaves in serving the public interest. Nowhere is this
public interest obligation more apparent than in the duty of
broadcasters to serve the civic needs of a democracy by promoting an
open and accurate discussion of political ideas and events.

Disney
and ABC claim this program to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report
and are using that assertion as part of the promotional campaign for
it. The 9/11 Commission is the most respected American authority on the
9/11 attacks, and association with it carries a special responsibility.
Indeed, the very events themselves on 9/11, so tragic as they were,
demand extreme care by any who attempt to use those events as part of
an entertainment or educational program. To quote Steve McPhereson,
president of ABC Entertainment, “When you take on the responsibility of
telling the story behind such an important event, it is absolutely
critical that you get it right.”

Unfortunately, it appears Disney and ABC got it totally wrong.

Despite
claims by your network’s representatives that The Path to 9/11 is based
on the report of the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commissioners themselves, as
well as other experts on the issues, disagree.

Richard
Ben-Veniste, speaking for himself and fellow 9/11 Commissioners who
recently viewed the program, said, “As we were watching, we were trying
to think how they could have misinterpreted the 9/11 Commission’s
findings the way that they had.” [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as
Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

Richard
Clarke, the former counter-terrorism czar, and a national security
advisor to ABC has described the program as “deeply flawed” and said of
the program’s depiction of a Clinton official hanging up on an
intelligence agent, “It’s 180 degrees from what happened.” [“9/11
Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times,
September 6, 2006]

Reports suggest that an FBI agent who
worked on 9/11 and served as a consultant to ABC on this program quit
halfway through because, “he thought they were making things up.”
[MSNBC, September 7, 2006]

Even Thomas Kean, who serves as a
paid consultant to the miniseries, has admitted that scenes in the film
are fictionalized. [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and
Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

That
Disney would seek to broadcast an admittedly and proven false
recounting of the events of 9/11 raises serious questions about the
motivations of its creators and those who approved the deeply flawed
program. Finally, that Disney plans to air commercial-free a program
that reportedly cost it $40 million to produce serves to add fuel to
these concerns.

These concerns are made all the more
pressing by the political leaning of and the public statements made by
the writer/producer of this miniseries, Mr. Cyrus Nowrasteh, in
promoting this miniseries across conservative blogs and talk shows.

Frankly,
that ABC and Disney would consider airing a program that could be
construed as right-wing political propaganda on such a grave and
important event involving the security of our nation is a discredit
both to the Disney brand and to the legacy of honesty built at ABC by
honorable individuals from David Brinkley to Peter Jennings. Furthermore,
that Disney would seek to use Scholastic to promote this misguided
programming to American children as a substitute for factual
information is a disgrace.

As 9/11 Commission member Jamie
Gorelick said, “It is critically important to the safety of our nation
that our citizens, and particularly our school children, understand
what actually happened and why – so that we can proceed from a common
understanding of what went wrong and act with unity to make our country
safer.”

Should Disney allow this programming to proceed as
planned, the factual record, millions of viewers, countless
schoolchildren, and the reputation of Disney as a corporation worthy of
the trust of the American people and the United States Congress will be deeply damaged. We
urge you, after full consideration of the facts, to uphold your
responsibilities as a respected member of American society and as a
beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves to cancel this
factually inaccurate and deeply misguided program. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Byron Dorgan

Ouch.

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