[NewsPoster]

Earlier today. a US appeals court upheld a ruling forcing Google to pull an anti-Islamic film from YouTube that caused international unrest on its release. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Google's defense that pulling the video, which depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a sexual deviant, was impinging on freedom of speech, and thus the action would violate Constitutional protections.

The plaintiff, actress Cindy Lee Garcia, found that the film included a clip from a different movie she appeared in, with an audio dub where she appeared to be asking a question using a phrase that Muslims found offensive. For many of the Muslim faith, any depiction -- much less an offensive one -- of the Prophet Mohammed is considered to be blasphemy.

Garcia's lawyer Cris Armenta, in an email to Reuters, called the removal of the film "the right thing to do." The counselor also claimed that "the propaganda film differs so radically from anything that Ms. Garcia could have imagined."

Ninth Circuit Court Judge Alex Kozinski said that the actress had faced "serious threats against her life" and was staring down serious harm without an injunction and the film's removal. Judge Kozinski said in his ruling that "it's disappointing, though perhaps not surprising, that Garcia needed to sue in order to protect herself and her rights."

[prl99]

I haven't seen the film and I don't like films depicting anyone in a bad light but Fox News doesn't this constantly and I have yet to see any court order them to tone down their constant bigotry, hatred, or racism against a wide variety of people. If the US is going to fair about this movie, we need to be fair about how we use our freedom of speech. Remember, it's only a right if it doesn't violate other person's rights.

[makern]

Can you give specific examples of the Fox News issue you mention? Which programs? What was said or shown? What it a guest or host who said it?

[DiabloConQueso]

It doesn't sound like this film was pulled because it was offensive to Muslims, it sounds like it was pulled due to unauthorized use of someone's likeness.

"The film was pulled" and "the film is offensive to Muslims" are both likely true statements, but "The film was pulled BECAUSE it was offensive to Muslims" may not.

[Charles Martin]

As usual, DiabloConQueso has it right. Whether or not the movie offended Muslims wasn't even at issue in the case -- it was whether the film could take a scene and actress from *a completely different movie,* redub her saying something else, and use her in the film. The court's decision: no, you can't do that, particularly when doing so puts an innocent party (the actress) in danger.

They could re-cut the film and have it back up again somewhere if they wanted to. As someone once said, having freedom of speech doesn't give you the right to yell FIRE! in a crowded movie theatre. There are limits.

[xomniron]

+! on the request for example of Fox News' constant bigotry, hatred, or racism from prl99. Where do you get your unbiased news? MSNBC?

[Steve Wilkinson]

This news article (and so many like it all over the web) are a good example of the real story, and then the news 'spin.' Unless you read carefully, the headlines, sub-headings, and most of the article give the wrong impression. As DiabloConQueso points out, the issue is copyright, not angered rioting Muslims.

If indeed it had been pulled because morons somewhere cause a fuss, then it might be a free speech issue, and might be a reason to complain and write such articles.

I also got a kick out of prl99's comment, as if there is any group guilty of dishing it out but not taking it, it's typically the political 'left' in the USA. They can typically say about anything regarding things like Christianity they like, no matter how nasty, but have insanely sensitive feelings if anyone even infers something about a number of their pet positions. While I'm no fan of Fox News, it's kind of laughable to hear folks on the left complain about it, given what goes on within the more left-leaning news outlets.

[Grendelmon]

Let's just say that if a news organisation has to insert the slogan "Fair and Balanced" in their logo, the truth is that it probably isn't.