KNOW-THIS
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3694
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 Wed Oct 15, 2003 7:51 pm
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Franken takes no.1 spot away from O'reilly's ass in book sales.......
Fox News Sells Franken's Book
MidSeptember Issue 2003
By Andrea Wood
No one at Fox News Channel dares tell Bill O'Reilly he's wrong. What other conclusion can be reached after reading the laugh-out-loud lawsuit the cable channel filed against humorist Al Franken?
At O'Reilly's insistence, it's been widely reported -- and apparently
using personal insults dictated by the shout-over king to plead its case -- Fox News filed a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement and asking a federal judge to stop publication of Franken's new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.
The legal leg Fox thankfully failed to stand on was the book's glossy cover. It features a subhead, "A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," as well as pictures of O'Reilly, Ann Coulter (who Franken slams as the diva of "political pornography aimed directly at her readers' basest instincts"), President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Lawyers argued that since the cable news channel trademarked the words "fair and balanced" and O'Reilly's picture is on the cover of Franken's book, people might confuse it with a book published by Fox News.
Yeah, right.
Fox News saved the big laughs, however, for the lawsuit's description of Franken, and here's where you hear O'Reilly shouting, just as he does on TV, as if he had the power to cut Franken off.
Franken was "either intoxicated or deranged" when he verbally attacked Fox News and O'Reilly at an event for the Washington press corps, the lawsuit claims. Franken is "neither a journalist nor a television news personality," the pleadings argued. "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."
You've got to be kidding, the judge ruled. Personal attacks to make your case? Trademarking a phrase? Not only does the legal language read like the taunts of an eighth-grade bully (we wish the judge had said), it undermines the First Amendment that news organizations hold near and dear (the judge actually said).
So now, thanks to Fox News' inability to tell O'Reilly to "shut up" (the talk show host's favorite phrase), publicity over the lawsuit has skyrocketed Franken's book to No. 1 on The New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller lists.
The book is very funny and very telling -- a must-read for news junkies but particularly for those who believe everything they hear (or read).
Regarding the veracity of O'Reilly, Franken handily reveals his false spin on claiming to have won prestigious journalism awards and registering to vote as an independent. Franken documents that not only did O'Reilly lie when he said he won two Peabody Awards (in broadcasting akin to publishing's Pulitzer Prize) when he hosted the tabloid show Inside Edition, he also is a registered Republican (the actual registration document is reprinted in Franken's book). Moreover, Franken reveals, O'Reilly continues to lie about being reared in a working- class neighborhood (actually he grew up in country club suburbia).
Some of the biggest jabs -- "punches and punchlines," writes the Washington Post media critic, Howard Kurtz -- are reserved for the Fox News program Hannity & Colmes.
This talk show, you might recall, sent Jim Traficant off to prison with a best-of Jimbo soundbite rendition to the tune of "You're Still the One" (and we're still having fun).
Colmes, the liberal half of the program, is always referred to by Franken in a smaller size type. "Colmes' rhetoric may not be fiery, but at least there's not much of it," he writes.
Using 14 Harvard students assigned to him during his stint as a fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, Franken documents eight big lies Hannity consistently tells and Colmes fails to correct.
Don't believe it's true? Read for yourself.
Want to read what other newspapers are writing about the Federal Communications Commission's bid to relax media ownership rules? Click here: www.iwantmedia.com
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