In its typically cheeky style, Fox News has placed a billboard right across the street from CNN's national headquarters here in Atlanta.

"Real Journalism," it reads in tauntingly large letters facing the office windows of CNN executives. "Fair & Balanced."

That message -- and its placement -- epitomize the rough-and-tough, in-your-face philosophy that has made Fox such a success. That same attitude was also on display last spring, when the news ticker outside Fox headquarters in New York made fun of anti-war demonstrators who were marching past.

"How do you keep a war protester in suspense?" the ticker read. "Ignore them."

"Attention protesters," another line read. "The Michael Moore Fan Club meets Thursday at a phone booth at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street."

While that's hardly fair and balanced, the Fox audience clearly loves it. It's one of life's many curiosities, though, that people who love to dish it out often can't take it in return. It's almost as if the DNA for big mouths and thin skins were on the same gene. Newt Gingrich used to be my favorite example of that phenomenon, but now Fox and its marquee star, Bill O'Reilly, have stepped to the front of the line.

After comedian Al Franken titled his upcoming book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced View of the Right," Fox News filed a lawsuit against Franken. The lawsuit complains about trademark infringement for Franken's satirical use of "fair and balanced," and about the use of O'Reilly's photo on the book cover.

In other words, the Fox attitude is a faux attitude. True tough guys don't go whining to a judge to complain that they're being picked on by some "C-level commentator," as the suit describes Franken.

Nor do smart guys. Before news of the lawsuit broke Monday, Franken's book reportedly languished at No. 489 in sales on Amazon.com. By Wednesday afternoon it had reached No. 1. And the thing won't even be available until Sept. 22.

In the meantime, those needing a little comic relief can at least rely on excerpts from the Fox lawsuit. "Franken is neither a journalist nor a television news personality," the suit alleges. "He is not a well-respected voice in American politics; rather, he appears to be shrill and unstable. His views lack any serious depth or insight."

"Shrill and unstable?" You mean like Fox favorite Ann Coulter?

On the other hand, I did appreciate the distinction that Fox draws between a journalist and a television news personality. I do wonder, though: In which category would it place O'Reilly?

My favorite allegation, though, is the claim that Franken is a "parasite" who is "commonly perceived as having to trade off the name recognition of others in order to make money."

My gosh. Have the Fox lawyers never watched O'Reilly's show, or read his newspaper column? Trading off the name recognition of others is one of O'Reilly's favorite shticks. He has made himself rich and famous in large part by feeding off public resentment of people who are rich and famous.

For proof, we need look no further than O'Reilly's most recent syndicated newspaper column, marketed to editorial pages around the country. In the space of just a few hundred words, O'Reilly manages to cram in the names of J. Lo, Ben Affleck, Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Roseanne, Michael Jackson, Bob Hope, Holly Hunter, Meryl Streep and Eminem.

It's also interesting to note what's not in the lawsuit. Nowhere in its legal complaint does Fox allege that Franken had committed libel by prominently including O'Reilly among the "lying liars." The network apparently doesn't want to risk proving Franken wrong in a court of law.

Even for "C-level commentators," truth is a powerful defense.

All in all, what Fox has done seems neither fair nor balanced. But I guess if you own those words, you can define them to mean anything you want.

Jay Bookman is the deputy editorial page editor.

© 2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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