FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
August 13, 2003
Fair and Balanced
So, Fox News is suing Al Franken for using their trademarked phrase "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. The lawsuit refers to Franken as "unfunny" and "a parasite," and claims Franken's "intent is clear -- to exploit Fox News' trademark, confuse the public as to the origins of the book and, accordingly, boost sales of the book."
Funnily enough, the lawsuit itself has spurred Franken's book to leap up the best-seller charts. "Any publicity is good publicity" holds true.
There are rumors that the fight is spurred by Fox's resident blowhard Bill O'Reilly, who, during a debate at Book-Expo America with Franken and Molly Ivins, resorted to calling Franken an "idiot" and repeatedly telling him to "shut up."
In another interesting development, in response to the lawsuit, all around the Web, weblog authors are adding "Fair and Balanced" to their blog titles, including cartoonist Tom Tomorrow.
Posted by Kevin O'Donovan at August 13, 2003 12:55 PM | Category: law |
3 Comments
ADVERTISEMENT
FC NOW MENU
NEWSLETTERS
FC NOW CATEGORIES
FC READS
I personally witnessed the Al Franken exchange on CSPAN with O'Reilly and I have to tell you that although Franken is funny and his image, therefore, is harmless, he was the one who threw the CHEAP shots continuously at O'Reilly until O'Reilly's temper finally and rightfully exploded. FRanken was heated that day too believe me! He was UPSET. But Franken's lack of class in RIPPING O'Reilly mercilessly in front of booksellers in LA was CLASSLESS and rude.
Franken was wrong. It is funny because, much like Franken getting away with being a chameleon and hiding behind humor to seem cool and in the know, I often feel that the word liberal provides those who espouse this form of politics with the same cover. They (liberals)get away with hiding behind a nice innocent sounding feel good word (liberal) that allows them to hide from what they really should be called.....But I do not know what to call liberals for they are honestly without well reasoned cause. Do we call Franken an abortion rights person or a person that believes the government should redistribute wealth? I wonder what Al Franken gave to charity last year? I bet you that my conservative friends I know out gave him at their local church or civic organization.
In open debate, the Al Frankens of the world always get mad because it is often the only tool that they can use to hide their lack of reason during debate. This is a former liberal's point of view who was saved by logic and common sense in my middle aged days.
I saw the debate too and I agree that Franken was a little aggressive. But, I don't agree that he was wrong. Rather, I think he was inelegant about proving his point. Franken used a petty example (Peabody-Polk) that actually highlighted some core honesty issues with Mr. O'Reilly. But, what I was disappointed about was the fact that Franken lost his cool. O'Reilly was obviously the better operator even if the truth of Franken's arguments stood out. And I think this is a core issue with liberals -- they're all so damn insecure!
If you're going to debate the Fox/O'Reilly/Hannity/Limbaugh machine, you'd better be up to the task! Franken was about to cry, and that doesn't help out the liberals at all. It looked weak. And when a conservative smells blood, watch out.
I think the real point in all of this is: Why does the public get so drawn to these polemic debates that actually don't have anything to do with us? We're the middle and we're the majority. Why are we letting the whacks on both sides represent us in the public?
I think its time to take the squeaky wheels off the cart and replace them with silent ones that work well...
Al Franken makes his living by taking the piss. O'Reilly should be used to it, since he does nothing so much as scream at and belittle people for a living doing a non-stop copy of Chris Matthews' impersonation of a smarter Rush Limbaugh. In an O'Reilly/Marist-Franken/Harvard smack down, Bill would cause more damage because he's just meaner, but Franken would ultimately win because he's smarter.