Variety reports that ABC bigwigs are considering pulling “The Path To 911 altogether:
“The Path to 9/11” is looking a lot like “The Reagans, Part II.”
Bill Clinton loyalists are demanding wholesale changes to the upcoming miniseries — and while ABC is making some snips, the alterations, insiders say, may not please the Dems.
But a bombshell decision may happen anyway: Sources close to the project say the network, which has been in a media maelstrom over the pic, is mulling the idea of yanking the mini altogether.As for specific criticisms — and changes — the original mini contained a scene in which then-National Security Adviser Sandy Berger declines to give the CIA authority to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, even when CIA operatives know where the al-Qaeda leader is.
“This account has been expressly contradicted by Richard Clarke, a high-ranking counterterrorism official in both the Clinton and Bush administrations,” certain lawmakers wrote in a letter to Disney topper Bob Iger.
While ABC declined to comment on specific changes, it’s believed that the Berger scene was among those being reworked.
Variety notes how this has been a big story on the Internet with screeching headlines on The Drudge Report, etc. but that network bigwigs considered this a “socially important” piece of filmmaking, much like some other watershed broadcast programs over the years.
But much in the same way right-wing groups mobilized to attack CBS’ “The Reagans” a few years ago, Democratic partisans were doing everything they could to discredit ABC’s “The Path to 9/11.”
Network hinted it was still making changes but refused to say whether the edits were due to pressure. It notes protests from Democratic lawmakers, former Clinton administration members and the report of a protest from former Bill Clinton (who as we have noted was refused an advance copy even though key conservatives were afforded a chance to preview the film, many via DVDs).
Criticism of “The Path to 9/11” carries strong echoes of the barbs hurled at CBS over “The Reagans.” Reagan partisans railed against scenes showing Nancy Reagan consulting an astrologist and Reagan condemning AIDS victims.Conservative drumbeat against “The Reagans” started months before the mini was slated to air and intensified after a copy of the script was leaked. Eye ultimately decided to sell the project to sister company Showtime — a move that, ironically, prompted howls of protest from liberal groups who accused CBS of censorship.
Cliff Kincaid, editor of publications for conservative watchdog group Accuracy in Media, said the Democratic outcry is a bit of a surprise.
“Usually Democrats can count on the support of big media in Hollywood,” he said. “It’s like things are upside down now.”
See our commentary on this controversy, which appears above this post.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.