Letter to the Editor
I don't think ABC News really appreciates how offensive their 9/11 "docudrama" is to many of its viewers. This is far more than just a "controversial" position. The movie "Path to 9/11" is really a fraud on the public. The movie was directed by the son of the founder of an evangelical cult and contains knowingly untrue facts that support the conclusion that 9/11 was President Clinton's fault. ABC is now hiding behind a disclaimer which uses weasel words describing the movie as "fiction".
There's a difference between a "fiction" and a "lie". Fiction is a movie meant to entertain. Thus if "The Path to 9/11" is fiction that means that ABC considers it "entertainment" to air a falsified account of 9/11 on its 5th anniversary. Makes me wonder if people who take 9/11 seriously are going to be amused. I don't think so.
So who will be offended? People who liked the job that President Clinton did find it extremely offensive. People who take 9/11 seriously and are sensitive to attempts to rewrite history will be offended. The only people who are going to like it are the hard core Clinton haters. But a lot of their thrill is gone because it has been widely publicized that ABC's movie is fake.
I'm no news expert but I would think that when you deeply offend a significant share of your audience that it would be bad for ratings. So ABC's fake story is going to have a price. When your viewers no longer respect you they change the channel. I'll be watching Loose Change 911 dot com on the Internet instead.
Posted by marc at September 9, 2006 11:52 AM