Saturday, August 16, 2003

Franken vs. Fox



Wow! Fox News is all in a huff because Political Satirist Al Franken has the words "Fair and Balanced" in the title of his new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Knowing Franken’s work it is a pretty good assumption that the use of “Fair and Balanced” is meant as a knock on Fox News. However, this does not give Fox New a reason to sue him. Yes, Fox has trademarked their “Fair and Balanced” tagline, but the First Amendment protects political speech…especially satire. You would think with all the great pundits that Fox News has one of them would know their U.S. Constitution. But maybe that is too much to ask of a news channel. I am sure they would fight for their First Amendment Rights if Franken sued them for naming a program “(blank) is a big fat idiot”. I guess being “fair and balanced” means only when Fox News says something is “fair and balanced”.

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