Reply #20: Books are different [View All]

[starroute]

An argument in a book is just an argument, which people may either believe or discount based on the assumptions they bring to it. Also, the people who read books on terrorism are likely to already know something about the subject and not be blank slates

In contrast, a professional-grade tv dramatization that bills itself as based on the 9/11 Commission report is going to reach an awful lot of people who know next to nothing about the subject and be absorbed by them as if it was literal history. (Some description of the film I saw was complaining about shaky cameras, suggesting they tried to make it look like on-the-spot news coverage.)

I don't know that the libel laws draw a distinction here, but as far as the ability to rewrite history goes, there's all the difference in the world.