SAN FRANCISCO - July 30 - Journalism’s David and Goliath? The online news magazine AlterNet has announced a challenge filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office against Fox News Channel for its attempt to trademark the slogan “Fair and Balanced.”

“There is nothing fair about deceptive advertising, and nothing balanced about appropriating words and ideas that logically can not be trademarked by anybody,” said AlterNet Executive Director Don Hazen. “The smug manner in which the Fox News Channel refers to itself as ‘fair and balanced’ makes serious journalists and news consumers shudder in revulsion. We will not and cannot allow Fox to trademark the revered journalistic ideal of objectivity. Is Fox to monopolize the use of those words?” added Hazen.

AlterNet’s challenge is being coordinated along with a petition filed July 19 with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) by Move On and Common Cause to stop Fox News from using the tagline based on the grounds that it is consumer fraud and false advertising. Move On, a 2.4 million member progressive advocacy organization, and Common Cause, a national media and government reform group, cite evidence of a clear Republican bias in its news coverage.

“Fox News is misleading its viewers by calling its partisan programming ‘fair and balanced,’” said Move On co-founder Wes Boyd. The FTC and Congress must act to prevent this inaccurate marketing from further harming consumers and public trust in the media.”

San Francisco-based Alternet, with a 10 person staff, filed its challenge against the media behemoth Fox News Channel only a few hours before the deadline to file challenges was to pass.

Robert Greenwald, muckraking director of the documentary “Outfoxed”, a scathing critique of Fox News, is a member of the board of directors of the Independent Media Institute, AlterNet’s parent organization.

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