ABC Affliliate Sees No, Hears No Dissent on "Path to 9/11"

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If you were to ask the owner of Lincoln, Nebraska ABC affiliate KLKN-TV (which Journal-Star reporter Jeff Korbelik did) whether the station had received negative feedback about its airing of the controversial "Path to 9/11", the answer was not only "no," but also that the docudrama was "compelling TV." Citadel Communications president Ray Cole, who also sits on ABC's governing board, neglected to say that KLKN had cut off email responses because, in the words of the station's automated response: "No storage space available in mailbox for news8@klkntv.com." So viewers wrote to the Journal-Star with their criticisms of the station's decision to run the drama - or, like Maribeth Milner, sent PR Watch a copy of her returned email, dated September 9, 2006. Viewer TedK wrote: "I also sent an email ... on Friday. It bounced back. ... Seems to me they got a lot of complaints. I guess Ray Cole feels he must lie to back the ABC corporate position." Two writers to the newspaper said they sent critical emails before KLKN's mailbox overflowed and even got responses from a station representative. No apology or correction was provided by ABC's Cole, suggesting that he had given the Journal-Star not a fact-based interview but what ABC might call a "docudramaview."