Fox Sues Al Franken...

[hammegk]

So, I take it that no one on this board considers Fox a trustworthy news source?

Umm. What do you consider to be a trustworthy news source?

Franken? Moore? ???

 

[Brown]

Why am I not surprised that Fox has no idea what is appropriate to say in a legal document?

This is no minor point. The quoted parts of the pleadings are inappropriate and undignified. They do not "sound" like proper pleadings. Why do you suppose the pleadings were drafted that way?

Here's one possible answer: Legal pleadings carry with them some protection against lawsuits. You can say pretty much anything you want about someone in a legal pleading, and the person that you insult ordinarily can't successfully sue you. (There are rare exceptions.)

Franken may have insulted Fox, but if so, he did it without trying to hide. Fox now insults Franken, but Fox prefers to hide.

 

[Sundog]

Here's one possible answer: Legal pleadings carry with them some protection against lawsuits. You can say pretty much anything you want about someone in a legal pleading, and the person that you insult ordinarily can't successfully sue you. (There are rare exceptions.)

A truly strange strategy, if true. Franken is fully equipped with the most powerful weapon against tyrants: laughter. He has already counterattacked brilliantly.

Plus, the net result of their "legal flaming" seems to be that Franken will sell a whole lot more books. D'oh.

 

[Reager]

Umm. What do you consider to be a trustworthy news source?

Franken? Moore? ???

Franken and Moore don't proclaim themselves to be "trustworthy news sources." They make no bones about their ideologies. Fox, on the other hand, is like the preacher who holds himself up as the paragon of virtue...and is then caught cheating on his wife and absconding with church funds.

Mike

 

[c0rbin]

What do you consider to be a trustworthy news source?

More than one source is more trust-worthy than any single source.

That's why good journalists go for corraboration (sp?) as opposed to opinion people who shoot from their hips.

Want news? Sekk journalists. Want slant? Seek the above-named actors.

 

[Marc]

Umm. What do you consider to be a trustworthy news source?

Franken? Moore? ???

Acutally I find the Daily Show to be a better source of trustworthy news.

 

[Valley_girl]

Fox News is beyond idiotic. I just sent the following email to that moron O'Reilly:

Bill -

I am sitting here in my office chair which was previously off-balance and a dark maroon color. This color did not go with the rest of my fair-colored office. Fortunately, it's been fixed and re-upholstered, so it's now "fair and balanced".

I usually go to the gym at lunch. I work out on the stationary bikes that are not used for the spinning classes. You could say that I work out in the "no spin zone" .

I guess I had better sign off now, I have to write a report for work. It is referred to as a written exercise, or "W.E.". Does it seem fair that I must, on such short notice, write this "W.E." report? You decide.

When do I get my lawsuit?

 

[daredelvis]

I love what the NY Times has to say about it...

"...Fox's complaint sounds like a collection of things Mr. O'Reilly wishes he'd remembered to say at their last encounter."

Daredelvis

 

[Upchurch]

Umm. What do you consider to be a trustworthy news source?

There is no one news source that is 100% trustworthy. However, on the sliding scale of such things, I personally consider MSNBC, CNN, and even PBS to more trustworthy than FOX and exceptionally more trustworthy than Bill O'Rilley. Although, admitedly, O'Rilley isn't a news source even though he claims to be.

 

[Sundog]

It is referred to as a written exercise, or "W.E.". Does it seem fair that I must, on such short notice, write this "W.E." report? You decide.

 

[ShowMe]

Franken and Moore don't proclaim themselves to be "trustworthy news sources." They make no bones about their ideologies. Fox, on the other hand, is like the preacher who holds himself up as the paragon of virtue...and is then caught cheating on his wife and absconding with church funds.

Mike

I like O'Reilly....but the boy needs to lighten up a tad. If he back into a wall his rear end would suck out a brick. I mean, Franken got him (O'reilly stated that one of the rag news shows he worked on won a Peabody award when it turned out to be a different award....and won *after* O'Reilly worked there).

Franken is occasionally funny, but it's usually painful to watch him. When he is funny, he's very funny.

Moore, on the other hand, makes "documentaries" where the truth is twisted or non-existent. While Mr. Moore may not stand up and scream that he is a trustworthy news source there is supposed to be an implied trust-worthiness to a documentary.

 

[Upchurch]

I caught part of O'Rilley's show today and he seemed quite irate about the Franken situation. (That is, of course, a vast understatement.)

O'Rilley claims that when he (O'Rilley) does a spoof or parody it is done with the intent of light hearted ribbing and not meant to malicious. What Franken did, claims O'Rilley, had no comedic value and was done with the sole intent of being malicious.

As I'm driving down the road listening to this, I'm thinking, "Al Franklen is a comedy writer. He's been writing comedy and parodies for shows like SNL for years and years. How could they not consider this legitimate satire?"

And then I remembered. This was coming from "The No Spin (Except O'Rilley's) Zone."

 

[hgc]

Comedy, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. And it in no way precludes maliciousness.

 

[Solitaire]

I do seem to recall John Stewart making a comment about
Fox being the other fake news organization, or some such.

Um, no, I think it was...

STEWART: No, there's no question. There is... in your mind...
look, you know they always talk about the news wants to be
objective. Leaving FOX NEWS out of it because that's sort of a
different animal. And, by the way, a very entertaining animal.
I enjoy watching FOX NEWS and I think every country should
have their own Al-Jazeera.

 

[Aoidoi]

Er, that wasn't the line I was thinking of. It was a throwaway line in one of his opening segments, I think. Something along the lines of "We, being the only fake news organization out there, other than Fox News, of course..." Though I freely admit I might be totally misremembering it.

 

[Suddenly]

This is no minor point. The quoted parts of the pleadings are inappropriate and undignified. They do not "sound" like proper pleadings. Why do you suppose the pleadings were drafted that way?

Here's one possible answer: Legal pleadings carry with them some protection against lawsuits. You can say pretty much anything you want about someone in a legal pleading, and the person that you insult ordinarily can't successfully sue you. (There are rare exceptions.)

Franken may have insulted Fox, but if so, he did it without trying to hide. Fox now insults Franken, but Fox prefers to hide.

I was thinking the same thing, a mixture of "preaching to the jury" and planting seeds for future misdirection in the future. I can see someone saying "Franken was intoxicated or deranged. It says so in official court documents."

It reminds me of my initial thought when I read the pleadings in the Paula Jones case. There is a discription of Clinton, umm, "handling" himself. I thought, "Man, things are going wrong for you when there is an official court document describing you playing with yourself."

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

In its fair and balanced way, Fox News refers in its suit to Franken as an "unstable" and "shrill" "C-level commentator" who is "not a well-respected voice in American politics."

Why haven't they hired him yet?

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I just ordered it.

Sorry Bill.

 

[subgenius]

This is no minor point. The quoted parts of the pleadings are inappropriate and undignified. They do not "sound" like proper pleadings. Why do you suppose the pleadings were drafted that way?

Here's one possible answer: Legal pleadings carry with them some protection against lawsuits. You can say pretty much anything you want about someone in a legal pleading, and the person that you insult ordinarily can't successfully sue you. (There are rare exceptions.)

Franken may have insulted Fox, but if so, he did it without trying to hide. Fox now insults Franken, but Fox prefers to hide.

Oooh, that's pithy. And so true.

 

[7th sextile]

Aoidoi:you may be recalling when The Daily Show won
an award and Mr. Stewart said something to the effect of
"Well-we do fake news,so there's not much competition-
just us and Fox"