Disney Decides What You Should See

CauseNET for May 5, 2004

In yet another case of corporate media censorship, executives at Disney have decided not to distribute filmmaker Michael Moore's new documentary entitled, "Fahrenheit 911".  Moore's new film is highly critical of the financial ties between the Bush family and the Saudi royal family as well as the action taken by the government in secretly evacuating relatives of Osama bin Laden out of the country immediately after the attacks on September 11.

Published reports indicate that although the movie is ready for release, Miramax studios have been told by parent company Disney that it has decided to ban distribution of the film.

Why?  According to one Disney executive, "It's not in the interest of any major corporation to be dragged into a highly charged partisan political battle".

Last week, it was Sinclair Broadcasting gagging Ted Koppel, by pre-empting Nightline's tribute to the Iraq war dead on its ABC affiliates, claiming that the program was partisan.  Now Disney bans distribution of a politically charged film.  Are we going further and further down the road where corporations determine all that people should see?

The more that media is concentrated in the hands of a few huge corporate owners, the more likely we'll see this type of corporate censorship.  One of the bedrocks of democracy is the freedom to express all ideas, no matter how controversial.  When ideas are suppressed, our freedoms are diluted.  Think of how outraged we'd be if the local library cleared its shelves of all controversial books.

Is Michael Moore's film good, bad, or indifferent?  Will it offend some people?  Probably.  But how will the public ever know?  How can the public decide the merits when a handful of corporate executives decide for us?

Call today! Tell Disney what you think about this latest move to blindfold you. Contact the Walt Disney Company at: (818) 560-1000.
Tell them you would like the office of Chief Executive Michael Eisner.

Or Write a Letter to the Editor of Your Local Paper:
http://causenet.commoncause.org/afr/dbq/media/