IMI seeks to strip Fox of its "Fair and Balanced" trademark registration.

[G_j]

______________________________

FOX NEWS: UNFAIR AND UNBALANCED
Don Hazen, AlterNet

It's time the Fox News Channel stopped using its
ridiculously inaccurate "Fair and Balanced" slogan.
The Independent Media Institute has filed a legal
challenge to that trademark and joined a campaign
against Rupert Murdoch's partisan network.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/19265/

-->> If there were any outstanding questions about Fox News' bias,
'Outfoxed' answers them. Nikki Finke talks to director Robert Greenwald.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/19250/

[Eric J in MN]

1. I think the reason that theyshouldn't be able to own a trademark on

...those words it's that it's a common expression which people use to describe reports and have for decades.

[depakid]

2. If ever a trademark deserved to be cancelled....

this is it. Franken could have gone after it in a cancellation proceeding last year- the Judge Chin implied as much in his ruling, but he got more milage out of it by making it laughable.

Now it seems that Outfoxed and Alternet are looking for a little milage of their own... and they've got even more evidence to make the case.

If Murdoch weren't so arrogant, he'd have let the whole "fair and balanced" thing just fade away quietly. Now he's going to end up in a situation that will only add publicity to the very people he and his networks hate. Pride before the fall.

Next up... the return of the Fairness Doctrine?

[rpannier]

3. Fair and Balaned doesn't bother me as much as...

"We Report You Decide." They're both ridiculous, but for some reason the "We Report..." crap always pissed me off more.

[BeyondThePale]

4. Major news coverage of this?

Have any of the so-called "mainstream" news organizations picked up this story?

[G_j]

5. great interview with Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed) on Democracy Now

Outfoxed: New Documentary Charges Fox News Tailored Coverage to Back Bush
Friday, July 16th, 2004

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/16/1442221
We take a look at a new documentary: "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," that accuses the Fox News Channel of tailoring its coverage to back President Bush. We play excerpts of the documentary and speak with its producer and director, Robert Greenwald as well as Larry Johnson a former CIA agent and former Fox News contributor.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We take a look at a new documentary titled "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," that accuses the Fox News Channel of tailoring its coverage to back President Bush.
The documentary, which premiered this week in New York City, features memos written by Fox executives and interviews with former Fox correspondents and producers who talk about how upper management pressured reporters to cover news with a conservative bias. The film also says a study of guests on Fox's news and opinion shows over a 25-week period in 2003 showed that Republicans appeared five times more often than Democrats.

The film's producer and director, Robert Greenwald, says he intentionally did not seek Fox's side. Greenwald told reporters: "Fox News is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week. My little film is hardly going to address that imbalance. This really is David vs. Goliath."


Robert Greenwald, veteran filmmaker. He produced and directed "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism". His previous films include "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" and "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election."
Larry Johnson, former CIA agent and former Fox News contributor. He is featured in Robert Greenwald's documentary "Outfoxed."


www.democracynow.org

[Old and In the Way]

6. Fox needs to tweak the wording of their slogan so as to clarify

their mission statement: "Fairly Unbalanced"