The next time you need a video MP3 player to help wile away all those hours you anticipate being stuck in the car, on the train or in the airport, you must download “The First Amendment Project.”

This 2004 production from the Sundance documentary collection (and co-produced by Court TV) is priceless if for no other reason than the 20-minutes-or-so segment titled, “Fox vs. Franken.”

Some quick background: Fox network filed suit against Al Franken after network commentator Bill O’Reilly’s angry-looking mug appeared on the cover of Franken’s 2003 book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. The network clearly didn’t have a lot on which to hang its legal hat: its lawyers actually argued that Franken’s use of the phrase “fair and balanced” infringed on the network’s copyright and was a delibrate attempt to mislead people into believing that Fox was responsible for the book.

Take a look at the book’s cover — and you be the judge.

Then watch a profound reminder of the beauty and importance of the First Amendment through one funny lens.

This entry was posted by Christine Tatum on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.