BBC Hearts GWB
Is the BBC really so stupid not to have noticed that the dramatised ABC/Disney miniseries about 9/11, due to air on BBC2 tonight and tomorrow, is potentially libellous of an ex-president, a major US airline and several former eminent government figures; not only that, that it was financed and produced by people with ties to evangelical Church groups and the Republican party?
Oh dear, how embarassing. I bet, being so web-savvy and media-literate and all, the bods at the Beeb are on it like white on rice and damage control exercises’re already under way.
But no. Apparently they are that stupid.
They’re still trailing the fallacious and fraudulent miniseries at every opportunity and this is the email reply sent to complaining licensepayers (you know, those boring little people whose money will be used to pay off the massive damages the court could award) –
“Thank you for your e-mail.
‘The Path to 9/11’, to be transmitted over September 10 & 11 is a drama based on real events and, as with any drama, the writer’s perspective will be brought to bear on those events. A statement at the beginning of the programme is clear about the sources and methods which have been used:
” The following dramatization is based on the 9/11 Commission Report and other published sources and personal interviews. Composite and representative characters and incidents, and time compression have been used for dramatic purposes”.
It is not our practice to engage in public debate about the contents of programmes before they’ve been transmitted, but what we will say is that this subject matter is always going to be politically controversial. Most of the events take place when the Clinton administration was in power so naturally it will feature heavily.
The programme has been reviewed by the Editorial Policy team and we are confident it lives up to high standards of fairness and accuracy.
With this in mind, we hope you will enjoy the drama.
Regards,
BBC Information”
Jeus wept, doesn’t anyone at the BBC use the bloody internet? This show isn’t just politically controversial”, it’s outright lies and the proof’s all over the blogs like a rash.
I don’t know if, in the deal struck with ABC/Disney and their fundy backers whether the BBC has final editorial control over the broadcast version. I hope for their sake that whichever lawyer drafted the contract insisted on it. Seeing how inept they’ve been so far, their continued blind hurtle into a potentially massive defamation suit does not surprise me at all.
And I haven’t even mentioned the political implications yet.
This ABC/Disney production attempts to rewrite history in favour of the Bush administration and by so doing to influence the upcoming congressional elections. The whole exercise reeks to high heaven of partisanship and of Rove desperately calling in media industry favours . There are to be no ads other than a 20 minute break in the US broadcast for Bush to address the nation. It’s a primetime campaign gift, and also a demonstration of blatant partisanship and a clear misuse of the publicly- regulated airwaves.
So unfortunately for the BBC, it’s not just the libel. The show could even potentially fall foul of US campaign finance laws, as constituting in-kind Republican campaign support. Such contributions from overseas interests are illegal. Ooops.
Is that really what the BBC want to do? More to the point, is that what we the license payers want the BBC to do?
Contact the BBC here. Maybe volume of complaints might give them a clue.
Read more: BBC, ABC, Disney, 9/11, Anniversary, Miniseries, Defamation, Libel
