Universal Copyright Still On Coulter's 'Old Arab' Column

By: Dave Astor Six days ago, Universal Press Syndicate announced an agreement with Ann Coulter calling for Universal's copyright to be removed from past and future columns on AnnCoulter.com that differ from columns sent to newspapers. Today, the controversial Feb. 23 column that sparked the agreement still features the Universal copyright.

E&P contacted Universal today to get reaction to Coulter's noncompliance, but two of the executives close to the Coulter copyright situation were out of the office and not available for comment.

In her Feb. 23 column, the conservative Coulter called liberal columnist Helen Thomas an "old Arab" and implied Thomas was a security threat to President Bush. Universal removed the "Arab" reference before sending the column to Coulter's 110 newspaper clients. But Coulter kept "Arab" in the version of the column on AnnCoulter.com, kept the Universal copyright under the column, and didn't included a disclaimer saying the column was worded differently from the one syndicated by Universal.

Coulter -- who could not be reached for comment -- did have an Ann Coulter copyright, rather than a Universal copyright, on the most recent column on her Web site.