Hi CG. Common words and phrases can be trademarked only if they have some unique association with the product or service. Purely descriptive words cannot be trademarked because they provide no unique identity to the product. Sometimes, over time, a more descriptive term can become uniquely associated with a particular product and can acquire trademark rights.

To the extent that "fair and balanced" is a trademark here, it is because "fair and balanced" is not a term normally used to identify television news programs. You don't turn on the box to watch the "fair and balanced", you watch the news. The irony here is that by claiming trademark rights to "fair and balanced", Fox News is implicitly asserting that "fair and balanced" is not descriptive of their program.