If Democrats win either House of Congress, ABC can be investigated

[bluestateguy]

ABC/Disney network heads could be given a friendly reminder that if Democrats win one house of Congress they just might decide to hold hearings investigating this miniseries, why it aired and the motives behind it. Gosh, it would be unfortunate too if the producer of the show was subpoenaed to testify before a congressional committee about any allegation against him that the committee might choose to pursue.

[Sammy Pepys]

1. Why would we want to do that, exactly?

Frankly, I think the free speech ramifications of such an investigation are much more dire than what ABC is putting out.

Do you think people are going to buy the increasingly frivilous attempts to suspend the airing or punish the creators of this thing?

I'm no fan of this thing but how about we deal with it, rather than threaten producers?

[kurth]

3. Hit them where they understand - in the bottom line

An organized boycott by Democrats - heck, just a VERY LOUD threat of a nationwide Disney boycott - would work.

[Sammy Pepys]

5. That's fine....

...but threatening investigations if the Dems take back the Congress? That's a little bit over the top. Not to mention that a threat like that could be so unpalatable that it ends up hurting our chances to do that very thing.

[NYCGirl]

4. I'm with you on this. The idea of investigating a TV network for a

"docudrama" just makes me really uneasy. There's a real slippery slope there.

[rinsd]

7. Agreed. These "threats" should be coming from us, not legislators

[warrens]

6. Yeah, that's going WAY too far

They have a commercial bomb on their hands, a black eye in the industry, and major criticism coming from the press. That's enough. What are "we" going to investigate, whether some producer is a Repuke and made a Repuke movie that ABC broadcast? It's only the inaccuracies that are a problem here; independent producers are free to make opinionated pieces as long as they are not willfully inaccurate.

[meegbear]

2. Could be in the works ...

Senate Democratic leadership threatens Disney with legal and legislative sanctions

This letter was sent today by the entire Democratic leadership of the US Senate. This letter is such a major shot across the bow of Disney, it's not even funny. It is FILLED with veiled threats, both legal and legislative, against Disney. US Senators don't make threats like this, especially the entire Democratic leadership en masse, unless they mean it. Disney is in serious trouble.

<snip>

It's long so, click the link for the text.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/09/senate-democratic-leadership-threatens.html

[janx]

8. You beat me to it!

I don't find it threat-laden, but it does offer a reminder (in paragraph 2) as to whom the airwaves belong to.

It's a very well written letter.

[Marr]

9. I'd be happy to just break them up,

reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, and tax the living shit out of their multi-billionaire owners.