MoveOn At FOX HQ: "Talk About A Publicity Stunt Gone Bad"

Cablenewser ^ | 07/19/04 | Cablenewser

[Pikamax]

MoveOn At FOX HQ: "Talk About A Publicity Stunt Gone Bad" > UPDATE: One press person who watched the "parade" said 20 to 25 MoveOn.org members were on hand. About 15 reporters were present, including camera crews from local TV stations and correspondents for the cable trade publications... MoveOn.org handed out "Outfoxed" DVD's outside FOX's NYC headquarters today, and unveiled their FTC petition. But: "Talk about a publicity stunt gone bad," a FOX employee writes to CableNewser. "Maybe it was the wet, drizzly weather, but for all of MoveOn's attempt at bravado, they failed miserably." Apparently only a handful of MoveOn members were on hand. "It was a pretty ominous sign to see one of the event organizers nervously surveying the landscape of no-shows and quickly folding up a MoveOn.org banner within minutes of arriving," the staffer says. "And then to watch them repeatedly try to scotch tape their 'petition' to a wet window was even worse. The staffers were trying to peddle DVD's to literally anyone who walked out of the building (which houses numerous other companies) and most people just kept walking and didn't even look at them -- the MoveOn people literally looked like those guys who stand on every street corner in Manhattan trying to peddle discount coupons to strip clubs." 1:45:20 PM

[Pikamax]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000580591



Activists Ask FTC to Take Action Against Fox News

By Charles Geraci

Published: July 19, 2004

NEW YORK On a day when newspapers around the country reported on some of the more than 3,000 local house parties Sunday night promoting the new documentary "Outfoxed," activists from MoveOn.org, Common Cause and other groups in New York announced a drive to strip the Fox News Channel of its "fair and balanced" slogan -- and then marched on the Fox studios in midtown Manhattan.

The group of about 50 organizers and lawyers attempted to present Fox officials with a petition, legal papers, and a copy of the DVD of "Outfoxed," with little apparent success. Some handed out copies of the DVD to Fox employees as they entered or exited the building.

Moveon.org announced at a press conference that it had asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to halt Fox News' use of the allegedly misleading "fair and balanced" tagline. The groups filed the action under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which deals with deceptive practices in the advertising and marketing of cable television programming.

"Fox News is misleading its viewers by calling its partisan programming 'fair and balanced,'" Wes Boyd, co-founder of MoveOn.org, said in a statement. "There is nothing fair about deceptive advertising, and there is nothing balanced about telling only one side of the story. The Federal Trade Commission and Congress must act to prevent this misleading marketing from further harming consumers and public trust in the media."

Fox News has denounced the documentary's own fairness and its use of internal Fox memos, some of which were also quoted in a New York Times Magazine story.

[My2Cents]

BowelMoveOn.org

[Frank_Discussion]

lol! Really! That's GREAT!

[dead]

The Federal Trade Commission and Congress must act to prevent this misleading marketing from further harming consumers and public trust in the media.

What a dweeb.

He needs government to protect him from slogans.

[Poohbah]

The staffers were trying to peddle DVD's to literally anyone who walked out of the building (which houses numerous other companies) and most people just kept walking and didn't even look at them -- the MoveOn people literally looked like those guys who stand on every street corner in Manhattan trying to peddle discount coupons to strip clubs.

The image is mind-bogglingly funny.

[NativeNewYorker]

The staffers were trying to peddle DVD's to literally anyone who walked out of the building (which houses numerous other companies) and most people just kept walking and didn't even look at them -- the MoveOn people literally looked like those guys who stand on every street corner in Manhattan trying to peddle discount coupons to strip clubs."

I am looking at the NYC Fox HQ building as I type this in midtown Manhattan. The odds of anyone in this neighborhood willingly taking something handed out by some street loafer are not far north of zero.

Idiots and amateurs.

[South40]

If MoveOn is so concerned with truth, where were they when the X-president was LYING UNDER OATH!?

[GSWarrior]

Isn't there a law against filing frivolous lawsuits?

[babyface00]

Moveon.org has a slogan too;
"Democracy in Action"

IMHO, any fair appraisal of their actions would more accurately be called "Socialism in Action".

We should sue.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Difference is, I might've stopped for a strip club discount coupon. ;-)

[MissyMa]

LOL!!!

This is great!! I bet they are cracking up inside FoxNews. Moveon.org is pathetic.

[cripplecreek]

I think all Freepers should change our taglines to "fair and balanced" on fridays. It would certainly irk Moveon, the DUh and other minions.

[mewzilla]

It's so hard to get good rent-a-mobs anymore :(

[spodefly]

This story must be more Fox news slander. I have it on good authority that MoveOn.org and others of their political persuasion represent the "Heart and Soul" of America.

[bikepacker67]

ABCNBCCBSCNN Release all interoffice memos re: programming, and FOX will do the same.

I look forward to seeing who is and isn't balanced.

[babyface00]

It's so hard to get good rent-a-mobs anymore :(

Let's hope these same bozos are the ones who are scheduled to protest the GOP convention.

[jayef]

The were organized in his defense.

[ICX]

I worked in the Fox News building at 48th and 6th last summer. If they had pulled this stunt then, they would have gotten a face full of dip spit.

[longtermmemmory]

There is.

Which is why they filed a frivolous FTC complaint.

If anything some counter Moveon group should file a FEC compalint for this as a violation of CFR.

the oufoxed DVD is a 527 violation in an effort to advocate voting against republicans.


Move on is a clinton scandal organization.

Ironic that they support a 9/10 presidential candidate who wants to go back to the days of jimmy carter diplomacy.