VLVL media power: Fox V Franken

[pynchonoid]

Franken Quips Back
Now both parties in the FOX News / Al Franken tussle
are showing a 
sense of humor about the proceedings. Vacationing in
Italy ("I normally 
prefer not to be out of the country on vacation when
I'm sued), Franken 
remarked by way of a statement that "As far as the
personal attacks go, 
when I read 'intoxicated or deranged' and 'shrill and
unstable' in their 
complaint, I thought for a moment I was a Fox
commentator." 

He also quipped, "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." In a slightly
more serious vein, 
Franken noted that, "From everything I know about law
regarding satire, 
I'm not worried." And Franken‚s agent Jonathan Lazear
told the 
Minneapolis Star Tribune that the people at Fox are
"stupid as bedposts" 
for suing. (Meanwhile, the folks at The Onion are
wondering whether they 
are vulnerable: "Maybe we'll get sued by the Vegetable
Growers of 
America.")
 
But a NY Times editorial gets to what I suspect is at
the heart of the 
matter: "You can't buy this kind of publicity." They
suggest that "Fox's 
complaint sounds like a collection of things Mr.
O'Reilly wishes he'd 
remembered to say at their last encounter." It also
sounds like a pre-
emptive collection of retorts that wouldn‚t get any
ink at all˜let alone 
headlines nationwide˜if they were made as an on-air
swipe or a simple 
press release, instead of framed as a lawsuit. By
fighting humor with 
humor, they get plenty of attention and pre-empt
whatever is in the book. 
But the publicity works for both parties˜Franken, who
was the first to 
say "I'd like to thank Fox for all the publicity," is
up to #1 on Amazon‚s 
list this morning.
NYT editorial
http://click.email-publisher.com/maablpIaaZNFna5kyATb/
Star Tribune piece
http://click.email-publisher.com/maablpIaaZNFoa5kyATb/

from:
Publishers Lunch
Wednesday, August 13


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