That's Entertainment
Unfair and unbalanced
By JAY AMBROSE
Aug 31, 2003, 18:35

Al Franken's idea of humor and political incisiveness seems to be to say people are liars and to point to a well-known conservative as fat, but if that sort of juvenilia is something short of praiseworthy, so was a Fox News lawsuit.

The cable channel took umbrage at the title of a Franken book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right." Fox claimed in court that it used the phrase "fair and balanced" to promote its shows and that it therefore belonged to Fox and should not be used by Franken.

Oh, come on. The phrase is a common part of the English language, and using a lawsuit as a means of hitting back in political debate is despicable. The suit has been dropped now, thanks to a discouraging judge, but the fact it was filed can hardly enhance the reputation of a news outlet that has actually done some first-rate work.

A better idea in the future would be for Fox News to relax and enjoy the joke of another celebrity pretending to know something about politics.

© Copyright 2005 Capitol Hill Blue

Fair Use Notice
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.