Free Republic

Is that boo-hooing I hear coming from Fox News, just across 48th Street from BusinessWeek headquarters in New York? Well, maybe I'm hearing things. But it sure is heart-warming to imagine Fox's supersized boss Roger Ailes and his fair-and-balanced band blubbering from the slap in the face a federal judge delivered to them recently. Fox had sued left-wing comedian and political satirist Al Franken for using the words "fair and balanced" in the title of his new book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. The network that has wrapped itself,...

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who once said that Ken Starr reminded him of the Nazi Heinrich Himmler, on Tuesday night, during a session with left-wing ranter Al Franken, denigrated the Fox News Channel as a bunch of "demagogues." Recalling how past demagogues like Joe McCarthy have "self-destructed," Olbermann raised the unsuccessful lawsuit against Franken for using the "fair and balanced" phrase and queried Franken: "Did you get some kind of comfort from this laughable lawsuit that maybe the latest set of demagogues are starting to fray at the edges and maybe headed towards self-destruction?" Olbermann wrapped up the September 2 Countdown...

<p>August 29, 2003 -- THE rise of an ardent, pas sionate, angry and en gaged left is the most im portant political story of 2003.</p> <p>The hottest book of the new publishing season is Al Franken's "Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them)." Joe Conason of the New York Observer has a fast-selling tome called "Big Lies." At the end of September comes "The Lies of George Bush" by David Corn of the Nation magazine, which will likely hit the bestseller list as well.</p>

<p>Listening to pundits on the left, it's hard to know who is more evil--George W. Bush or Rupert Murdoch. The president, some passionately believe, tricked us into war, which is of course bad. But Mr. Murdoch gave us the Fox News Channel. You decide.</p>

What if Rupert Murdoch hadn't bought The Sun in 1969? Quite possibly, Neil Kinnock would have become Prime Minister in 1992. Almost certainly, Britain would be less raunchy today. Undoubtedly, the Royal Family would have retained more dignity. Arguably, the Mirror pensioners might not have lost their money. And Manchester United might not have been strong enough to win the Champions League. Or, then again, it might not have made much difference at all.Of all the programmes in the What If? television series (currently showing on BBC4), the Murdoch question has been the hardest one to answer. On any view...