Apparently the White House has a beef with The Onion, a news parody previously mentioned on this blog. Seems they are not happy when The Onion uses the Presidential seal in its satirical spoofs. They claim it is a violation of regulations. Looks like lawyers are getting invovled.
Excuse me, but doesn’t The White House have more important things to think about?
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October 27th, 2005 at 1:32 am
The sad thing is that the White House may not have realized that the Onion is a satirical newspaper.
Or, maybe they are trying to draw attention away from Plamegate, Delaygate, and the Miers debacle and the Katrina debacle and the Wilma debacle and the Iraq debacle (2000 and counting) and the economy, and health care, and…..
October 27th, 2005 at 5:19 am
Saw this elsewhere. The odd thing is that the FedGov is probably in violation of the 1st amendment.
October 27th, 2005 at 9:00 am
raj,
they aren’t. it’s a regulation, somewhere in the USC (maybe title 18???) that says you can’t use the seal for commercial purposes, etc.
October 27th, 2005 at 9:35 am
I’m betting Bush has used the White House seal for commerical purposes.
And yes, I agree 100%, they should have better things to do, but bait and switch is their best tactic when it comes to hard news. Something comes up that puts them in the hot seat, or as LBBP pointed out, SEVERAL hot seats and they say, “Look, a distraction!”
October 27th, 2005 at 11:02 am
Reporter: What is your comment on the Plame case/Meiers’s withdrawal/the war in Iraq?
Scott McClellan: Look! A UFO!
press corps turns heads to look
SM: I’m sorry, what was the question?
October 27th, 2005 at 12:21 pm
tweedledopey on Oct 27th, 2005 at 9:00 am
And since when did a statute supercede the Constitution? It strikes me that it is an obvious violation of the 1st amendment provision that congress shall make no law…abridging freedom of the press. I recognize that that has been often ignored by the FedGov, but that’s the way I read it.
October 28th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
I’m pretty sure online media don’t fall under the umbrella of the first amendment. If you remember, that privilege isn’t extended to television so I think it only refers to printed media.
Not to mention the first amendment is the right to publish, it doesn’t absolve you from any legal complications (such as libel) within published material.
October 29th, 2005 at 12:19 am
JJJ,
Hmmm….just where is the line between on- and off-line media? Last time I checked my mailbox there was a newspaper, printed on real newsprint, from The Onion in it. Just like the New York Times.
October 29th, 2005 at 3:37 am
Carefull JoAnne, this might be the JJJ of the Daily Bugle! J. Jonah Jameson….?
-cvj
(Please let there be someone out there who knows what I’m talking about….please….)
October 29th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
Clifford–I saw no rant about that punk kid Parker and his phographs of that menace web-slinger, so I doubt it is the JJJ you’re thinking about.