More attacks on "Fair Use," This Time By Fox News

Fox News sues Dem candidate for 'compromising' its 'objectivity'

Daniel Tencer
Raw Story
Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:17 CDT

Lawsuit may be 'escalation' of fair-use copyright battles

Fox News has sued the Democratic candidate for Senate from Missouri, saying an ad her campaign started airing this week infringes on the network's copyright and compromises the network's "objectivity."

Democratic nominee Robin Carnahan's ad consists mostly of a four-year-old clip from Fox News showing her Republican rival, Sen. Roy Blunt, being aggressively questioned by Fox host Chris Wallace over the senator's ties to lobbyists.

The Hollywood Reporter states that in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in a US District Court in Missouri, Fox News accused Carnahan of airing a "smear ad" against Blunt. The network reportedly said the ad was meant to imply that Fox News is backing Carnahan.

The lawsuit (PDF) also claims an "invasion of privacy" against Wallace, because his image was "appropriated" for the ad.

Fox News doesn't mention Carnahan in the ad, as the clip focuses on a 2006 interview of Blunt by Chris Wallace.

"You just said a moment ago that you have to show that you're the party of reform, but some question whether you are the man to do that," Wallace tells Blunt. "In 2002, you tried to insert language into the Homeland Security Act to help Philip Morris tobacco while you were dating that company's lobbyist. And your campaign committee paid $485,000 to a firm linked to Jack Abramoff."

While Wallace's words appear to have been edited together from different moments in the interview, removing Blunt's responses, Fox's lawsuit describes the clip as an "essentially verbatim copy" of the interview. The Hollywood Reporter states:

More at
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/215187-Fox-News-sues-Dem-c...