Actually, I'm glad he and Maddow are there to counter-balance Fox News, and I think those two can be quite funny and insightful at points as well. Now all we need is CNN to recognize it's destiny of becoming America's BBC (IE: a centrist, reason-driven voice.)
Anyways, I just thought MariaHolic jab was an easy otakucentric joke, and I'm all about lazy jokes.
Well, the thing is that if the economy calms down between now and the release of the series (entirely possible, maybe even likely,) news is going to get slow again, and slow news begets stupid news stories. Plus, you never know when some local news outlet will trash it because it's slow locally, and then that gets picked up by one of the bigger media outlets as an addendum, that then itself gains traction (see: ISLAM IS THE LIGHT.)
All I'm saying is, it's a considerable risk in this climate, one no other publisher has ever taken, including more niche houses like RightStuf and MediaBlasters which are able to maintain a lower profile. It's an area of freedom of speech that is constantly assailed because while the law may protect it (and really, without a constitutional amendment, it is protected speech,) it's counter to the public morality, and it's bad for a publically-traded company to be in caught that trainwreck. It's also as I said earlier, a notoriously unprofitable segment of anime in the US. Even if noone is going to trash you for it, it's not a good investment - buy Dennou Coil instead.
Additionally, putting out the edit version of the series would then cause damage with the hardcore fanbase (the only fanbase that'd buy it,) so they are almost forced into going with the full-blown lolicontastic version. Besides, even the TV edit would raise eyebrows, so it's not a full or even adequate protection against media drama.
In short though, I only say it's a dangerous move because I care about Funimation, and I want to see them stick around in the industry. As otaku, we need them to survive.