We too are now “Fair and Balanced.”
Excerpts from the Fox/Franken suit are on Salon here. And Tom Tomorrow linked to this incredible Bill O’Reilly transcript which really must represent a high-water mark of pot-kettle-black-ness:
The main point here is that trying to hurt a business or a person because you disagree with what they say is simply unacceptable in America. And that message has been sent by FOX. There’s a principle in play. Vigorous debate is embraced by us, but smear campaigns will be confronted. It is simply a joke for The New York Times to editorialize that fabricated personal attacks are acceptable under the banner of satire. |
So, fabricated personal attacks, I guess, are acceptable to O’Reilly under the banner of “fair & balanced.” But Fox owns that banner, and no one else can use it. And as for the banner of satire — one that has long had its own special niche under First Amendment law for the obvious reason that it is one of the most effective ways to “speak truth to power” — well, O’Reilly obviously lacks a sense of humor, so I suppose he wouldn’t miss it if it got furled up and sent off to Guantanamo to grow mold.
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