Moore Sued for "Doctoring Newspaper"

[Kilgor]

Moore Sued for "Doctoring Newspaper"


Oscar-winning director Michael Moore is being sued by a furious American newspaper for allegedly "doctoring" the paper's front page for his controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. A scene in the movie shows newspaper headlines relating to the legally contested 2000 American presidential election and includes a shot of Bloomington, Illinois newspaper The Pantagraph with a headline reading 'Latest Florida recount shows Al Gore won election' - which was not actually used on the first page. Instead the headline was found in much smaller type above a letter to the editor, which the paper says reflects "only the opinions of the letter writer". The Pantagraph has now sent Moore and his production company Lions Gate Entertainment Corp a letter asking him to apologize for using the manipulated cover page and are seeking $1 million in compensatory damages. The paper says, "If Moore wants to 'edit' The Pantagraph, he should apply for a copy-editing job."

http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/#1

[100_Percent_HOOAH]

This doesn't surprise me in the least bit, Mr. Moore loves to bend the truth to keep his propaganda running strong. I talked with some people the other day and they were all talking about how much fact and truth were in his movie and based on the movie's merits alone, Bush should not be re-elected. I just shook my head at them in disbelief. :cantbeli:

[Mark Sman]

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


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.

[SpazzMunky]

Heres the preeemptive strike:
Micheal Moore is a fat greasy traitor :bash: :bash: :bash:
Okay thats over with.
Now to the actual issue:

I'm not surprised at all Moore edited newspaper content. He makes propaganda, after all. If you make propaganda for either the left or the right, facts are going to get distorted by the ugly hand of partisanship.

Please no posts saying how fat Moore is anyone, they get tiring to read after a while, and im sure we all get the point :)

[martinexsquaddie]

american does'nt sue for millions of dollars NOW THATS A STORY rofl
hows the ann coulter movie going :lol:
what nobody can make aright wing movie that anybody wants to pay to see :lol:
see you can't buck the market rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl