Path to 9/11 Controversy

DEMOCRATS URGE ABC TO WITHDRAW 9/11 MOVIE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro]
Amid an election-year debate over who can best defend America, U.S. congressional Democrats urged ABC-TV on Thursday to cancel a miniseries about the September 11 attacks that is critical of former Democratic President Bill Clinton and his top aides. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada denounced the television movie, set to air in two parts on Sunday and Monday nights, as "a work of fiction." ABC issued a statement saying the production, "The Path to 9/11," was still being edited and that criticism of the film's specifics were thus "premature and irresponsible."
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID...

* Passions Flare as Broadcast of 9/11 Mini-Series Nears
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/washington/08film.html

ABC SAYS CRITICISM OF 9/11 FILM UNJUSTIFIED -- BUT SCHOLASTIC DROPS COMPANION GUIDE
[SOURCE: Editor&Publisher]
ABC is rejecting criticism of an upcoming miniseries about the events leading to the 9/11 terror attacks, but Scholastic, which had agreed to widely distribute a companion guide to schools, announced Thursday afternoon it had changed its mind. A Scholastic statement read: "Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, today announced that it is removing from its website the materials originally created for classroom use in conjunction with the ABC Television Network docudrama, 'The Path to 9/11,' scheduled to air on the ABC Television Network on September 10 and 11, 2006. A new classroom discussion guide for high school students is being created and will focus more specifically on media literacy, critical thinking, and historical background. "'After a thorough review of the original guide that we offered online to about 25,000 high school teachers, we determined that the materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with controversial issues,' said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO of Scholastic."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* ABC and Scholastic release skewed Path to 9/11 "Discussion Guide" for high school teachers to assign to students
http://mediamatters.org/items/200609060008?src=action200609070001

* Scholastic Pulls Teaching Material For 9/11 Show Faulted as Biased
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115766710703256826.html?mod=todays_us_ma...

* ABC to Alter Show on Pre-9/11 Run-Up
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR200609...

* ABC Will Only Make Minor Changes to Path to 9-11
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6369782.html

* 9/11 Miniseries Is Bunk
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Barbara Bodine, U.S. ambassador to Yemen from 1997-2001]
[Commentary] The ABC miniseries, "The Path to 9/11," opts for fiction when fact is needed and chooses mythmaking when the candor of history is called for. The 9/11 commission report tells the story with clear-eyed honesty, precision and studious impartiality. The ABC drama does not. The 9/11 commission spent hours interviewing virtually everyone connected not just with the events of that day but those involved in counter-terrorism over 25 years -- Republican as well as Democrat. ABC did not.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-bodine8sep08,1,37...
(requires registration)