Amid the controversy over ABC's fact-challenged "Path To 9/11" (which is still scheduled to air tomorrow night), writer/producer Bryce Zabel noticed something odd: The poster for the "docu-drama" is strikingly similar to that for his 1996 TV series "Dark Skies." Like ABC, we're going to stick stringently to the facts: Apparently, in a secret meeting with CIA director George Tenet, ABC president Bob Iger was asked if he wanted to "take out" the movie poster for "Dark Skies" and Iger angrily hung up on him. Then President Clinton came in and they ate tacos and talked about how delicious they were (whoops, sorry, that was lunch break; originally the producers included it because they thought thought they were "improvising"). The above makes no sense but it's a helluva lot more credible than "Path of 9/11."
Oh, and also: Note that the poster reads "Based on the 9/11 Commission Report" rather than the supposedly-updated "Based in part on the 9/11 Commission Report." Like ABC's "Path To 9/11" website ("Tthe miniseries draws on detailed information from the [9/11 Commission] Report and other sources to take viewers on an unforgettable journey through the events that presaged that fateful day" and "ABC will present "The Path to 9/11," a dramatization of the events detailed in The 9/11 Commission Report and other sources") and blog (Per Director David Cunningham: "We tried, as best we can, based on 9/11 Commission Report and numerous other sources and advisors, to present an accurate and honest account of the events leading to 9/11"). Neither has been updated or flagged or otherwise has any indicator of the fact that some events in the movie never even happened. For shame, ABC, for shame.
from Reuters via Yahoo! News
After almost five weeks in jail in Sudan, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek was freed today in Sudan. Salopek and two Chadians were arrested last month on espionage charges and for writing "false news."
According to the Chicago Tribune, for whom Salopek is a foreign correspondent, a judge in the North Darfur capital of el-Fasher released Salopek, saying in English "We are stopping the case and we are releasing you right now. And that is all."
After intervention from New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who met with Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, and Illinois senator Barack Obama, who happened to have been in Africa on a tour, it was agreed that Salopek and his associates would be released today on "humanitarian grounds." The Tribunealso agitated on his behalf upon learning of his arrest and detention.
The espionage charge is one that sends a chilling message to foreign journalists and, as USA Today said, is usually indicative that a government has "something to hide." The world has been a dangerous place for Western journalists abroad lately, with the kidnapping in Gaza of Fox journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, the seizure of Jill Carroll in Iraq, and the prolonged imprisonment of New York Times researcher Shao Yan, who was sentenced last month to a three-year prison term in China.
Salopek, on a leave of absence from the Tribune, had been on assignment for National Geographic, and had made an unplanned journey into Sudan to report on refugees from Darfur along the Chad-Sudan border. Despite the experience, Salopek, who said that his treatment had been "excellent," has not been deterred from his work on the continent: "I have every intention of resuming this assignment...I will be back in Africa."
Related memo from Chicago Tribune: "Thrilled and relieved."
NB: This post was originally written about Salopek's impending release and has since been updated.
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