Cyrus Nowrasteh on Disney/ABC's Censorship of the Path to 9/11 DVD
LIBERTAS BLOG
— Jason ApuzZo @ 8:43 am
There was a point last year when a lot of us were concerned about what Disney/ABC was editing out of Path to 9/11 in order to protect the reputations of the Clintons. We wondered if Disney/ABC would bow to censorship pressures from the Democratic Party, in a kind of cinematic equivalent of Sandy Berger stuffing a few inconvenient documents down his pants to protect the Clintons.
How quaint that concern now seems.
Cyrus Nowrasteh, writer-producer of ABC's The Path to 9/11, discusses today the complete suppression of his film (see the Wall Street Journal, subscriber side) - today being, of course, the sixth anniversary of the attack itself. Essentially, Disney/ABC no longer wants you to see any of that film - even though it was watched by 28 million viewers and was just nominated for seven Emmies. [Special note to those of you out there who still believe that in Hollywood 'it's all about the money': feel free to explain in the comments section how that would apply here.]
Six years after the attack, it's become apparent that the full story behind those attacks still can't be told because of what that story reveals about the Clintons - who still crave power - and about the Democratic Party that enables them. Here's Cyrus' article:
"A year ago today, ABC ran the docudrama I wrote, "The Path to 9/11," at the peak of a firestorm of political protest designed to discredit and shut down the miniseries before it aired. Left-leaning pundits, politicos and bloggers waxed hysterical about its supposed inaccuracies and anti-Clinton bias, though the vast majority of them had not seen it.
They were determined that no one else should see it, either. But they failed, and the miniseries garnered nearly 28 million viewers and seven Emmy nominations. One year later, however, there is another attempt to shut down "The Path to 9/11? — this time the DVD version.
Despite what these would-be censors and the conspiracy theorists of the blogosphere fervently believed a year ago, the miniseries was never about Bill Clinton, the political left or right, but about our common enemy then and now: Islamist terrorism. It dramatizes a clearly linked chain of historical events, beginning with the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, continuing through the multiple attacks on American embassies and interests abroad, and culminating in the horrific attacks on American soil six years ago.
The miniseries depicts not only the institutionalized lapses and errors along the way, noted in the 9/11 Commission Report and other sources, but also the efforts of ordinary American heroes who did their best to defend this country from its enemies. Both the failures and the successes are historical facts, and neither the Clinton nor Bush administration is spared its failures or denied its successes in the miniseries, as its many millions of viewers can attest.
After the broadcast the controversy went away. The threatened lawsuits never materialized, and the attacks on the miniseries' credibility dissipated. Indeed, experts such as Michael Scheuer, former chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit, and Gary Schroen, the first American field agent into Afghanistan after 9/11, both came forward to confirm the accuracy of the docudrama.
The current battle against the DVD version is not taking place in a frenzy of unfounded accusations, but in silence. The normal time frame from broadcast to DVD for miniseries and movies is approximately four months. Originally I was told by ABC that the DVD release date would be in January. January came and went, and I was told June was the new release date. Then July. Now ABC's official statement is, "We have not decided on a release date at this time." No further explanation.
Privately, I was told by an ABC executive that "If Hillary weren't running for president, this wouldn't be a problem." The clear message is that ABC/Disney isn't eager to reopen the wound, or feel the pressure again from politicians anxious to whitewash their legacy. Executive Producer Marc Platt, a well-known Hollywood liberal, even had to finance the limited Emmy campaign himself because Disney/ABC refused to do so (unheard of for such a high-profile production). This passive self-censorship is just as effective as anything Joseph Stalin or Big Brother could impose. The result is the same: the curbing of free speech and creative expression, and the suppression of a viewpoint that may be an inconvenient truth for some politicians.
This was a $40 million project that, because of the overblown controversy, attracted no sponsors and thus made not a penny of profit from its broadcast. It is a quality production, both entertaining and educational, that has the potential to recoup a significant part of its cost, if not actually turn a profit, through the sales of an eagerly anticipated DVD. Does ABC/Disney not owe it to its shareholders to make this basic effort to reclaim some of their $40 million?
But profit, while not an insignificant consideration, is not at the heart of the matter here (certainly not for me personally, as I would make literally a fraction of a penny for each DVD sold). The issue is that corporate timidity is preventing millions of Americans from finding "The Path to 9/11? on DVD — though other politically controversial movies are readily available, such as "Loose Change," which argues that the Bush administration targeted American citizens for death in an elaborate and sinister plot, or Michael Moore's unabashedly biased "Fahrenheit 9/11." These highly charged movies, which don't offer even a pretense of balance, and others can be found online or in retail outlets and DVD rental stores across the country — and so they should be, just as "The Path to 9/11? should be.
Whatever one may think of the miniseries or of me as the writer, the American way is not to let the docudrama languish in a cowardly purgatory but to release it for the general public to judge. If there is controversy, all the more reason it should be made available for every American to decide for himself. In fact, I suggested to Disney executives that members of the Clinton administration be allowed to speak their piece in the DVD's special features, a suggestion which was met with — that's right — utter silence.
A year ago, the amped-up outcry preceding the airing of "The Path to 9/11? nearly drowned out the truth. This Sept. 11, it is the corporate silence regarding the DVD that is deafening."
I'm reminded of the old leftist adage about 'speaking truth to power.' In Hollywood the Left is the power, and no one is allowed to speak truth to them.
libertyfilmfestival.com |
