September 14, 2007

Last September, the excellent ABC miniseries “The Path to 9/11,” drew a huge audience of 25 million people, but the Disney Company that owns the project has so far refused to make it available on DVD.

Writer-producer Cyrus Nowrasteh says he heard from a top executive that they won’t release it due to fears it would harm Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign—because the mini-series accurately portrays the inaction of President Bill Clinton in the face of the mounting terrorist threat. The shocking censorship of a significant, potentially profitable TV production shows that two widespread beliefs about Hollywood aren’t true:

·   No, it’s not always about money—on occasion, top executives will sacrifice profit for the sake of political correctness.

·   And second, the entertainment industry isn’t really committed to unfettered free expression. When it suits their purposes, as with “The Path to 9/11” or the attempt to impose the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” they’d rather stifle disagreements than answer them.

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