No employment ban on WDR-Authors!

To:  Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Director-General

Mr. Fritz Pleitgen
Director-General
Westdeutscher Rundfunk

D-50600 Cologne



October 29, 2003



Dear Mr. Pleitgen:

On June 20, 2003, the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) broadcast "Aktenzeichen 11.9. ungelöst" [File 9/11 Unsolved], a documentary by German filmmakers Willy Brunner and Gerhard Wisnewski. The film dealt critically with the attacks on September 11, 2001, exposed inconsistencies, and raised doubts about the official version of the Bush Administration. The documentary drew a lot of interest from the public and garnered an enormous rating.

However, after broadcasting the documentary, the WDR suddenly imposed an employment ban on the filmmakers. According to the Spiegel, a German news magazine, you yourself declared in front of the WDR Broadcasting Council, the company’s supervisory board, that the authors were no longer allowed to work for the broadcasting company. In a statement given to Telepolis, an internet magazine, the WDR specified the accusations and said that the authors had not „fulfilled their assignment“ and „missed the actual target.“

Dear Mr. Pleitgen, we, the undersigned, have carefully informed ourselves about this matter, in particular from a comprehensive article in Telepolis e-zine, dated October 26, 2003

(http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/co/15909/1.html), but also from the filmmakers involved. From this it follows that your broadcasting company not only commissioned, extensively reviewed and approved the film, but also broadcast it. Following an additional examination of the raw material, the WDR, according to the Spiegel, a German news magazine (September 8, 2003), declared that the statements in the documentary were “not misrepresented or reported in a distorted manner.”

Moreover, the central statements of the film have been confirmed; even members of the US Congress recently called upon the Administration to no longer block the investigation into the attacks of September 11, 2001.

We, the undersigned, hereby declare that the reasons for the employment ban imposed on the filmmakers Willy Brunner and Gerhard Wisnewski are not sound.

Dear Mr. Pleitgen, we, the undersigned, ask you to:

Stand by your own critical films and protect freedom of speech!

Lift the employment ban imposed on the filmmakers Brunner and Wisnewski!

Use your journalistic know-how and the resources of your broadcasting company in order to continue to critically comment on current affairs, in particular the attacks of September 11!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The No employment ban on WDR-Authors! Petition to Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Director-General was created by and written by Gerhard Wisnewski.  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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