[Archive 2006-09-08] ABC comes under fire for alleged partisan slant in 9: 11 miniseries

Historical archive — originally published 2006-09-08. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

For ABC, the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks will be marked with a new kind of controversy over alleged political motives in a new miniseries, slated to be aired on prime-time slots this coming Monday and Tuesday.

According to ABC's entertainment division, the film is a "dramatization... not a documentary." However, several key scenes, which critics allege distort the September 11 commission's report on which the film is based, are being reworked, reshot, or pulled altogether, and ABC is reportedly "mulling the idea of yanking the mini altogether."

For ABC, credibility, along with what is reported to be millions of dollars spent in advertising, is on the line. The film includes many noted actors, including Donnie Wahlberg, Patricia Heaton, and Harvey Keitel, who plays counterterrorism official John O'Neil. However, criticism has come from within as well. Many who worked on the film have spoken out, claiming the film's accuracy and objectivity is questionable. One writer, Cyrus Nowrasteh, in an interview with Los Angeles radio station KRLA-AM, claimed that moments had been improvised, and writer James Bamford claimed on MSNBC that an FBI agent working as a consultant on the film quit due to allegations of fabrication.

Action committees from all across the political spectrum have made statements on the film, including liberal watchdog MoveOn.org, which, in a recent statement to its members, stated that "ABC shouldn't have any role in the political exploitation of 9/11."

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