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NEWSPAPER CLAIMS MOORE DOCTORED FRONT PAGE! (MOORE CAUGHT IN LIE!)
WINS ^ | 8/1/04

Posted on 08/01/2004 1:07:16 PM PDT by areafiftyone

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) -- Filmmaker Michael Moore's Bush-basing documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" has apparently upset more than Republicans. The Pantagraph newspaper in Bloomington said Friday it sent a letter to Moore and the film's distributor, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., asking for an apology for using what it said was a doctored front page in his movie.

The paper is seeking $1 in damages.

A scene early in the movie shows newspaper headlines related to the contested 2000 presidential election. It includes a shot of The Pantagraph's Dec. 19, 2001, front page, with the prominent headline, "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election."

The newspaper says that headline never appeared on that day.

The paper said the headline appeared in a Dec. 5, 2001, edition but was not used on the front page. Instead, it was found in much smaller type above a letter to the editor, which the paper says reflects "only the opinions of the letter writer."

"If (Moore) wants to 'edit' The Pantagraph, he should apply for a copy-editing job," the paper said.

Neither Lions Gate nor Moore were immediately available for comment Sunday.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: deceit; fahrenheit911; moore; pantagraph; recount
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1 posted on 08/01/2004 1:07:20 PM PDT by areafiftyone
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To: areafiftyone

Such a shock, eh? I may never recover from this knowledge.


2 posted on 08/01/2004 1:08:25 PM PDT by Howlin (Saving Private Hamster)
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To: areafiftyone

Whoa-a-a-a!!


3 posted on 08/01/2004 1:08:40 PM PDT by syriacus (Daschle on National Missile Defense debate -- "THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE." June 8, 2001)
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To: areafiftyone

"The paper is seeking $1 in damages"

One dollar? Why not $20 Million? I mean, to ask for token damages is all very sporting, but that fat pig won't learn nothing unless he is hit in the pocketbook, hard. It's the American way, after all.


4 posted on 08/01/2004 1:11:36 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: Howlin

*Yawn*

Rats will deny it... They'll claim the paper is making the whole thing up... They're too ignorant to read this stuff and discern the real truth about that FAT SLOB SOCIALIST LIAR.


5 posted on 08/01/2004 1:12:23 PM PDT by Humidston (Bush/Rice - 2004 - You heard it here.)
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To: areafiftyone

http://www.pantagraph.com/stories/073004/new_20040730034.shtml

Friday, July 30, 2004

Pantagraph to Moore: Headline use 'misleading'

Explanation, apology sought

By Bill Flick
flick@pantagraph.com
Advertisement
BLOOMINGTON -- The Pantagraph has a message for Michael Moore, creator of the movie hit, "Fahrenheit 9/11":

If he wants to "edit" The Pantagraph, he should apply for a copy-editing job and not simply show made-over and "falsely represented" pages from the newspaper in his movie -- or he should at least ask for permission first.

In a letter drafted Thursday and sent to Moore and the movie's Santa Monica, Calif.-based distributor, Lions Gate Entertainment, the newspaper admonished him for his "unauthorized ... misleading" use of The Pantagraph in the film. He also was cited for copyright infringement.

The letter, drafted by J. Casey Costigan of the Bloomington law firm, Costigan & Wollrab, seeks an apology, an explanation of how such a strange discrepancy occurred in his movie and compensatory damages -- of $1.

"While we are highly flattered to be included in the movie," said Pantagraph President and Publisher Henry Bird, "we are a bit disturbed that our pages were misrepresented."

Previous attempts to reach Moore through Lions Gate by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful.

In the film, Moore criticizes President Bush's handling of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the president's and his associates' ties to Saudi Arabian oil interests.

In a moment early in the movie, newspaper headlines from around America that relate to the legally contested 2000 presidential election flash across the screen. One of them is purported to be from a Dec. 19, 2001, edition of The Pantagraph.

But a check of that day's newspaper revealed the large headline prominently flashed in the movie -- "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election" -- never appeared in that edition.

Instead, the headline appeared in a Dec. 5, 2001, edition -- but not as a news headline. It was in much smaller type above a letter to the editor. Those headlines reflect only the opinions of the letter writer and are not considered "factual" news stories.

In the movie, The Pantagraph page, as shown, was not how a real page from the newspaper would have looked. Moore's version had a different typeface and a different headline size from what The Pantagraph uses. The newspaper's name, however, appears in the correct font.

The letter calls all of this a "misrepresentation of facts."

The discrepancy first came to light in a July 16 Bill Flick column.

Since then it has become a topic of newspaper articles, radio talk shows and various Web sites.

"In an instance that The Pantagraph prints materials in which there is a mistake," the Costigan letter to Moore reads, "it is corrected. It is our hope that you would adhere to the same high ethical standard and correct the inaccurate information which has been depicted in your film."

The letter calls into question the ethics of how Moore made his movie, a movie whose primary purpose is to call into question the ethics of the Bush White House.




6 posted on 08/01/2004 1:12:36 PM PDT by syriacus (Daschle on National Missile Defense debate -- "THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE." June 8, 2001)
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To: Howlin

The should add seven zeroes to that $1 and sue the fat Mooron.


7 posted on 08/01/2004 1:12:36 PM PDT by Leo Carpathian (Vote the RATS out!!!)
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To: areafiftyone
Crosslinking with same article.
8 posted on 08/01/2004 1:12:43 PM PDT by TomServo ("I'm so upset that I'll binge on a Saltine.")
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To: jocon307

I know - it seems silly to me.


9 posted on 08/01/2004 1:12:48 PM PDT by areafiftyone (Democrats = the hamster is dead but the wheel is still spinning)
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To: areafiftyone

Continuing logically, I assume Moore had to "doctor" a front page to say that "Gore won", because he couldn't find a genuine front page saying that.

In truth, when all the counting was done by sundry and all, the headlines all said "Bush won". So Moore had to make one up.


10 posted on 08/01/2004 1:13:35 PM PDT by I still care (Have you heard about the Democrat cocktail? It's ketchup with a chaser.)
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To: TomServo

So, that's how a professional does it. :-)


11 posted on 08/01/2004 1:13:43 PM PDT by Howlin (Saving Private Hamster)
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To: syriacus
In the movie, The Pantagraph page, as shown, was not how a real page from the newspaper would have looked.

Moore's version had a different typeface and a different headline size from what The Pantagraph uses.

The newspaper's name, however, appears in the correct font.

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:a6PLnTnYldwJ:www.pantagraph.com/+Pantagraph+moore&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

12 posted on 08/01/2004 1:16:08 PM PDT by syriacus (Daschle on National Missile Defense debate -- "THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE." June 8, 2001)
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To: areafiftyone

Moore, wouldn't do that....


13 posted on 08/01/2004 1:16:12 PM PDT by Osage Orange (Hillary's heart is blacker than the gut of a cave worm.)
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To: syriacus
...we are highly flattered to be included in the movie," said Pantagraph President and Publisher Henry Bird...

Well, that answers that question!

14 posted on 08/01/2004 1:17:08 PM PDT by BlessedBeGod
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To: areafiftyone

Wow :) I love it when a plan comes together *snicker*


15 posted on 08/01/2004 1:17:25 PM PDT by Sunshine55 (The only poll that REALLY matters is the one on November 2nd.)
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To: Leo Carpathian

nah,,, I like the $1. It makes it much more difficult for the Dim's to say it is a republican paper....... This way, they either get news or an apology, both work.....


16 posted on 08/01/2004 1:18:05 PM PDT by phalynx
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To: areafiftyone

It is going to be interesting to see just how averse MM is to actually admitting wrongdoing and apologize? Has there been any further word on the two wounded Iraq veterans, footage of whom was included in the movie without their knowledge or consent?


17 posted on 08/01/2004 1:18:08 PM PDT by sinanju
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To: areafiftyone

And people believe everything he puts in his movies....


18 posted on 08/01/2004 1:20:33 PM PDT by roiscoe
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To: areafiftyone

Is it news created by net generated activism? I saw this story start over at Moorewatch.com. :o)


19 posted on 08/01/2004 1:22:30 PM PDT by GoLightly
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To: Howlin
Oh yes.

Well, while it was a dupe - they were under different headlines. Therefore avoiding the standard, 'Already Poster Here™'

20 posted on 08/01/2004 1:24:51 PM PDT by TomServo ("I'm so upset that I'll binge on a Saltine.")
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