FOX NEWS vs Al Franklen

[Javier]

NEW YORK (Aug. 12) - Al Franken, the humorist being sued by Fox News Channel for use of the phrase ``fair and balanced,'' said Tuesday he doesn't mind the legal action.

But he does wish it hadn't happened during his vacation.

Fox sued the former ``Saturday Night Live'' performer and his publisher, the Penguin Group, to stop them from including ``fair and balanced'' in the title of his upcoming book. The television channel uses the phrase as its slogan.

Filed Monday in State Supreme Court in New York, the trademark infringement lawsuit seeks to force Penguin to rename ``Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right,'' scheduled for release next month. It also asks for unspecified damages.

Fox News registered ``Fair & Balanced'' as a trademark in 1995, the lawsuit said.

``I normally prefer not to be out of the country on vacation when I'm sued. However, from everything I know about law regarding satire, I'm not worried,'' Franken, who has not filed a response in court, said in a statement released Tuesday. He is vacationing in Italy.

Franken also thanked Fox ``for all the publicity.'' As of Tuesday night, ``Lies'' had reached No. 4 on the bestseller list of Amazon.com, one ranking ahead of the latest Harry Potter book.

In its court papers, Fox described the author and liberal commentator as ``neither a journalist nor a television news personality. He is not a well-respected voice in American politics; rather, he appears to be shrill and unstable. His views lack any serious depth or insight.''

Fox alleged that Franken was ``either intoxicated or deranged'' when he attacked the network and conservative host Bill O'Reilly at an April press correspondents dinner. The lawsuit also says that Franken has been described as ``increasingly unfunny.''

``As far as the personal attacks go,'' Franken responded, ``when I read `intoxicated or deranged' and `shrill and unstable' in their complaint, I thought for a moment I was a Fox commentator.

``And by the way, a few months ago, I trademarked the word `funny.' So when Fox calls me `unfunny,' they're violating my trademark. I am seriously considering a countersuit.''      

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Fox alleged that Franken was ``either intoxicated or deranged'' when he attacked the network and conservative host Bill O'Reilly at an April press correspondents dinner.

good one FOX...so when Bill O'Reilly goes nuts with his racial slurs hes not looked at intoxicated or deranged? But always the righteous man.
lol O'Reilly is a joke...in the show called The Pulse...he would have a debate and this guy would lose the debate like 98% of the time.

[Don Jacob]

racial slurs? lose a debate?


you're on one

[Javier]

As reported in the Washington Post (4/15/03), O'Reilly was trying to fill the time before a singing group connected with the charity, called the Best Men, was set to perform, and quipped: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."

   

Two months before O'Reilly's "hubcaps" remark, he used a racist slur on the air. Searching for a word to describe someone who assists immigrants crossing the border, O'Reilly came up with "wetback" (2/6/03). The incident was explained away by Fox officials as an unfortunate gaffe (New York Times, 2/10/03), but the Allentown, Pa. Morning Call (1/5/03) had O'Reilly using the same racist term in a speech earlier in the year: "O'Reilly criticized the Immigration and Naturalization Service for not doing its job and not keeping out 'the wetbacks.'" O'Reilly denied making the comment (Washington Post, 2/17/02), but the reporter stands by his account.

A transcript of the show demonstrates O'Reilly's highly imaginative memory. Here's how the interview really went: In support of his proposal to militarize U.S. borders, O'Reilly remarked, "We'd save lives because Mexican wetbacks, whatever you want to call them, the coyotes--they're not going to do what they're doing now, all right, so people aren't going to die in the desert." He then offered the "last word" to his guest, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D.-Texas), who did not address O'Reilly's slur at all, but instead tried to explain why he thought using the Army to patrol the borders was a bad idea. (O'Reilly, reneged on his promise to give Reyes the last word, interrupting him with a rebuttal.)    

from www.fair.org


these are segments from a complete article on it

[dexter]

Screw FOX With a Condom.

[Don Jacob]

man my dad jumped the border and i'm proud to call him a wetback....quit being so ofay

[Javier]

man my dad jumped the border and i'm proud to call him a wetback....quit being so ofay

Wetback is a disparaging type of word. It's a racial slur.  A man with the media power as Bill O'Reilly should not be saying that on air...if he feels like that he should keep it to himself

[Trauma-san]

Al Franken is a fag in every sense of the word.  LOL.  Stuart Smalley wasn't funny, he looks like Jack Osbourne, and his books will never resonate with america, because they don't rely on the basic truths of the american way of life, he has no optimism, only pessimism, and that will never get anybody anywhere.  

[King Tech Quadafi]

Al Franken is a fag in every sense of the word.  LOL.  Stuart Smalley wasn't funny, he looks like Jack Osbourne, and his books will never resonate with america, because they don't rely on the basic truths of the american way of life, he has no optimism, only pessimism, and that will never get anybody anywhere.  

Holy Fuck. How you transform into such spineless, shameful republican cock slurper is remarkeble.

[Trauma-san]

And so is your lack of tact.  Excuse my endorsement of optimism, I forgot pessimism was such a great thing.  

[King Tech Quadafi]

Callin me pessimist, yet youre the one spewin at the mouth over a guy you dont know who has a disagreement with a TV station that you obviously watch on the regular.