24
The Kiefer Sutherland counterterrorism drama was criticized from the beginning for seeming to endorse and even encourage the use of torture to interrogate suspects. Many have argued that besides being reprehensible and inhumane, torture can in fact be counterproductive, and endanger Americans abroad.
It’s not just liberal critics making these arguments.
In fact, The New Yorker reported, in November 2006, military and FBI interrogators met with the 24 creative team to “to “voice their concern that the show’s central political premise—that the letter of American law must be sacrificed for the country’s security—was having a toxic effect. In their view, the show promoted unethical and illegal behavior and had adversely affected the training and performance of real American soldiers.”
24 executive producer Joel Surnow shrugged it off, telling The New Yorker: ““We’ve had all of these torture experts come by recently, and they say, ‘You don’t realize how many people are affected by this. Be careful.’ They say torture doesn’t work. But I don’t believe that.”
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