Campaign Against JFK Miniseries Smear Effort Forces History Channel to Change Its Tune

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/story/145742/campaign_against_jfk_miniseries_smear_effort_forces_history_channel_to_rethink_project

Campaign Against JFK Miniseries Smear Effort Forces History Channel to Change Its Tune

A historically revisionist series backed by a producer with ties to Roger Ailes has led 40,000 people to sign a petition calling the script 'right-wing character assassination.'

February 19, 2010
 
Media observers are abuzz with talk of a History Channel mini-series called "The Kennedys." While the scripts for the eight-part show, slated to air in 2011, are still unfinished, that hasn't stopped 40,000 people from signing a petition calling the series "right-wing character assassination" and "politically motivated fiction."

The populist rage stems from two roots. The first is that the History Channel gave the green light -- and $30 million -- to Joel Surnow, a producer with significant ties to right-wing media. Known for producing "24," the hit terrorist-fighting series that has normalized torture techniques for many Americans, Surnow is tight with Rush Limbaugh and Roger Ailes, the president of Fox News. His ties with the channel extend beyond the personal, as he also executive produced its now-defunct "1/2 Hour News Hour."

- snip -

Perhaps not if the intent is to be politically unbiased.

Greenwald himself is behind the second reason fueling the campaign to quash the mini-series. A leaked script for "The Kennedys" found its way into his showbiz-connected hands, which he shared with prominent Kennedy historians who have since gone on the record calling the script everything from distorted and nonsensical to propaganda.

"I've read the script," writes Greenwald in a letter directing supporters to the campaign's site, StopKennedySmears.com. "It's ridiculous, sexually exploitative, revolting stuff -- everything you'd expect from a conservative re-writing of history... this garbage, coming so soon after Ted Kennedy's death, makes the worst commercial schlock look Oscar-worthy."

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[Octafish]

1. That '24' puke was caught with Rush Limbaugh on the Viagra voyage to the Dominican Republic.

Rush Limbaugh's Dominican Stag Party

[CBHagman]

2. I'm glad to hear they've been forced to confront this.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the History Channel was planning something so tawdry, but they're making themselves a laughingstock and a platform for propaganda.

http://stopkennedysmears.com/

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Sout turns out that the History channel is really a repuke tool. How sad.

[Grand Taurean]

4. The Revisionist History Channel does this quite often.

There are still smears against FDR and Kennedy. Any small comment critical of Reagan, all HELL breaks lose.

[arcadian]

5. 1/2 Hour News Hour

Who remembers that shit?

[Grand Taurean]

6. "24" is the mentos commecial of action dramas.

The scenarios shown are way out "there".

Joel Chickenhawk Surnow and Kieffer Chickenhawk Sutherland only know how to pull s**t out of their own asses.

[Canuckistanian]

8. Kieffer "Chickenhawk" Sutherland?

He's a Canadian citizen. And grandson to a Canadian progressive hero, Tommy Douglas, "The Greatest Canadian", father of Canadian health care.

He couldn't be a "chickenhawk" even if he tried.

[bertman]

7. Thanks for posting this. I'll give them the green light on this miniseries as soon as they

film the one that shows the married Poppy Bush with his dancer paramour. And we know that's never gonna happen.

Rec.

[pleah]

9. K&R

[pnorman]

10. Just received this reply:

Thank you for signing the petition.

The script for the upcoming "The Kennedys" miniseries on The History Channel is right-wing character assassination, not "history." Now, it's up to you to help make The History Channel take notice. We currently have 43,248 petition signatures and want to get to 50,000 by Mon, 2/22, a number that will make the media take notice and impact The History Channel.

Please help us reach this goal by sending the video to your friends and encouraging them to sign the petition.

Help spread the message to Stop the Kennedy Smears today.

Thank you again for your support!

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Films team

[Hissyspit]

11. kick nt

[Omaha Steve]

12. K & R!

I signed an online petition on this. Not sure it it the same one.

OS

[Caretha]

13. Kicked

[TheUnspeakable]

14. kick-please sign the petition!!