The importance of definitions

When is a docudrama not a documentary? Just listen to ABC/Disney as they respond to criticism of their "epic miniseries" The Path to 9/11, airing this Sunday and Monday evenings at 7pm locally. According to ABC, the program is, "a dramatization of the events detailed in The 9/11 Commission Report and other sources." It is also interesting that ABC attempts to deflect criticism by noting that, "the program was produced by the entertainment division rather than ABC News." Intense criticism by Democrats, including former president Clinton, has been leveled at the program for what are perceived to be inaccuracies in pre-release copies. Specifically, Democrats object to portrayals that they didn't do enough to go after Bin Laden in the years leading up to 9/11. According to news reports today, ABC is responding by making last-minute editorial changes.

But this is not simply an argument about facts or the portrayal of events. It is a debate about whether this or any docudrama/miniseries should be held to the standards reserved for news and documentaries or whether it should only have to rise to the expectations of prime-time, network, entertainment programming. Dramatizations of true events often play fast and loose with the facts. It's just that this time the facts are much more sensitive, and mid-term elections hang in the balance.

According to the New York Times, "Scholastic, the children’s publishing company, which had been working with ABC to use “The Path to 9/11” as a teaching tool, said yesterday that it was removing materials related to the film from its Web site. A spokeswoman said a new study guide was being prepared that would explain the difference between a docudrama and a documentary." Clearly the terms documentary and docudrama are important distinctions...and that, in turn, dictates the expectations that we should have as to the accuracy and objectivity of the program. Read this blog post and the readers' comments and be prepared to offer your opinion when we meet next week.

Note: see also the fascinating behind-the-scenes video clips (Recreating 9/11 Day 1, ...Day 2, Keeping it Honest, and How to Create a Riot) at the miniseries' home page.

Doc screening at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center

I'm forwarding this message from Erin Ragulsky at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center...

Here's a great documentary screening we will be holding Sunday, Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. in the Arts Center Theater. The the Dalai Lama, a small history of Tibet, how one man prepares to have an interview with His Holiness and the interview this documentarian has with the Dalai Lama. It's very capitivating and really worth your time.

Stay after the film for a question and answer session with Rick Ray. The Dalai Lama will be in Denver only a week before the screening of this documentary, so take part in the celebration of his momentous visit to Colorado.

Anniversary of 9/11

The events of 9/11, 2001 have provided extensive material for documentarians and conspiracy theorists worldwide. Over the weekend I saw World Trade Center, the Oliver Stone film starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena. While not a documentary per se, it (along with the earlier film United 93) may be as close as fiction films can come. Notable is Stone's refusal to even suggest conspiracy as he tells the tale of two Port Authority police officers caught in the collapse of the Twin Towers. This from the director of JFK!

In contrast, conspiracy theories about 9/11 abound in the Internet documentary Loose Change, 2nd edition, available courtesy of Google video at their web site, http://www.loosechange911.com/
While the WTC script was based upon hours-upon-hours of interviews with principles and eye-witnesses, LC is another type of documetary...one that raises more questions than it answers and does not hesitate to speculate about possible scenarios.

At the Loose Change web site you can even purchase a T-shirt calling for an investigation of 9/11, and when you do you are pledging to, "do you best to wear it to wear it at Ground Zero on September 11th, 2006." For those of you who may be interested, that is less than a week away!