OUTFOXED : Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism

I had been wanting to review this movie since a co-worker first convinced me to check it out long ago. However when I got ready to begin writing my review I wanted to check and see what others had said; and this lead me to the idea of quoting some of my favorite reviews/summaries, because frankly they said what I wanted to say, but with out the profanity that my first draft contained.

A quick note before I get into those quotes though; I have NO PROBLEM at all with Rupert Murdoch spending his billions in any way he wants. If he chooses to disseminate false information to promote some religious and/or political ideal, that is his prerogative. And if he feels that untruths, falsehoods, deceit, and outright lies are the way to do this, then he is free to do so . And while I find it despicable, he is also free to bundle this under the guise of being impartial news, or being “fair and balanced”, but this does not mean that it is what he markets it as.

He is free to do this, just as I am free to say that Bill O’Reilly has as much credibility and integrity as a pedophile in a Chuck E. Cheese or that Glenn Beck is to rational discourse as Cartman from South Park is to understanding and moderation.

I support his right to create Fox News and do as he sees fit with it; but I also think it’s fair for others to point out the innumerable issues with Fox so that the public can have an educated and informed opinion, not just parrot back what they have been told to believe by these frauds pretending to be journalists.

From Wikipedia:

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism is a 2004 documentary film by progressive filmmakerright-wing views. The film says this pervasive bias contradicts the channel’s claim of being “Fair and Balanced”, and argues that Fox News has been engaging in what amounts to consumer fraud.

The documentary was not released theatrically, but rather was distributed in DVD format by the Political action committee MoveOn.org, and sold online through Internet retailers such as Amazon.com, where it was a top-seller in July 2004. MoveOn.org had helped promote the DVD release by taking out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times.

The film examines the global growth of Murdoch’s media enterprise in the context of concentration of media ownership considerations, and argues that having one person in control of a large media conglomeratefreedom of the press. might infringe Outfoxed negatively portrays Fox News on several fronts:

• It criticizes Fox News’ coverage during the lead-up to, and the aftermath of, the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• It claims that commentators such as Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity attempt to intimidate guests with whom they disagree, such as author and activist Jeremy Glick.
• It states that more airtime and coverage is given to Republican politicians, particularly those in the George W. Bush administration, than to Democrats.
• It portrays Fox News management, including Murdoch and president Roger Ailes, both conservatives, as controlling the network’s content, and further portrays editorial control from Murdoch on down as ensuring which stories and issues are covered and that the coverage is from a strongly conservative perspective.
• It asserts that suspensions or other reprisals are given to reporters and producers for not promoting the channel’s political point of view.

Former Fox News journalists appear in the film critiquing the methods and perceived integrity of their former employer. For example, Jon Du Pre, a former reporter for Fox News’ West Coast bureau, alleged that he had been suspended by Fox News management because his live shots from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Ronald Reagan’s birthday — which Du Pre described was like a “holy day” to Fox News’ hierarchy — were not “celebratory enough.” A former Fox News military contributor, Larry C. Johnson, also claimed that he was in high demand to give on-air analysis on the “war on terrorism”, until he called into question on Hannity & Colmes whether or not the United States could fight two wars (in Afghanistan and Iraq) simultaneously, an incident after which Johnson says he was promptly ignored as a potential Fox News contributor.

From Outfoxed.org:

Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, have been running a “race to the bottom” in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public’s right to know.

The film explores Murdoch’s burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.

Media experts, including Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.

This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it’s like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a “right-wing” point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said “There’s no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can’t be crossed.”

From IMDB:

If 1967 film The Battle of Algiers is a training manual for terrorists, consider Outfoxed, the new documentary about Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News cable channel, a how to for right-wing misinformation.

Rupert Murdoch is up-front about his goals for Fox – America’s most watched cable network – to promote conservative values. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism demonstrates just how fundamentally this distorts the truth, misinforms the public and compromises the integrity of any journalist employed by Fox news. Government surveys show that of all news consumers, Fox viewers had the most inaccurate perceptions of the truth – for example one-third of them believed that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

Fox’s slogans include “Fox News – Fair and Balanced” and “We Report – You Decide”. Does the second one remind you of anything? That’s right, the ABC’s CNNNN, who more accurately transformed the slogan into “We Report – You Believe”. I never realised that CNNNN’s Firth Factor had a real-life counterpart, Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor, and was nauseated by Bill O’Reilly. He’s the most biased and aggressive shock jock I could envisage, who disrespects the truth and annihilates any guest who dares disagree with him. In comparison, Jeff Kennett in his heyday was as innocuous as a little fluffy kitten. In the US, most Fox viewers wouldn’t even understand that CNNNN is a comedy.

Outfoxed is an argumentative essay rather than an impartial examination of the truth, but considering the propaganda machine it’s taking on, how could it be otherwise? What’s so impressive about this film is its pace. In a rapid-fire 77 minutes, filmmaker Robert Greenwald interviews dozens of former Fox employees, media analysts, and intersperses it with Fox footage to prove his points. Not only is the film jaw dropping, but it’s as entertaining and shocking as anything the Fox behemoth could pump out. It made me cry. *****/***** stars.

From Amazon:

I went into seeing this thinking it was a Fox News bash-fest. I’m not a big fan of Fox or any of the big cable news networks for that matter, but the footage and internal memos the people that made this film got ahold of are amazing. As were the interviews with former employees. Even hardline supporters of this network have to admit Fox’s “We Report, You Decide” and “Fair and Balanced” taglines are nothing more than meaningless phrases at this point. Fox News does indeed have a clear agenda and has from the beginning. They’re almost bragging about it. Right-wingers are probably happy about this which is not surprising. I’m sure the left-wingers would be equally happy if they had a 24-hour station as big as Fox doing the exact same thing, and probably will soon enough if the planned network Gore and others are trying to start gets off the ground. Bottom line this is a great documentary that shows how easily a news network can manipulate the public. This is very dangerous and a threat to democracy, no matter who is doing it or what “side” they apparently lean toward.

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FOX’s right wing, pro-Republican (as distinct from merely conservative) agenda is obvious just by watching two minutes of their broadcasting. What this movie shows you is some of the mechanisms they use to maximize the channel’s effectiveness as a machine for generating support for the Grand Old Party – some subtle, most not.

Some of the mechanisms illustrated:

• Suppression of non-right wing views, by having vastly more Republicans as guests and hosts than Democrats, let alone any real alternative voices
• Selecting marginal and less effective spokespeople whenever they want to present “the other side”, and then rarely letting them complete a sentence
• Staffing the channel and its management with former Republican lobbyists and media advisers, as well as the family of current Bush political hacks. One classic scene in the movie shows the FOX reporter covering George Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign chatting with Bush before the interview, chuckling about all the hard work done by the reporter’s sister as an active member of Bush’s campaign
• Misrepresentation of the views of their critics, attributing obscene beliefs and motivations to them. In one shocking scene, O’Reilly abuses the son of a 9/11 victim in the most undignified ways for daring to mention the Reagan administration’s role in supporting the Afghan mujahadeen. This was the most upsetting scene for me – it left me speechless with anger
• Consistently misleading the public by selecting only the most favorable coverage of the administration possible, while repeating the mantra “fair and balanced”

Don’t assume that FOX is the only problem, though. The rest of the corporate media have serious, systematic biases that result in a similarly, though perhaps more subtle, pro-government, pro-corporate agenda. Everyone who watches the news should also listen to Noam Chomsky (for example, Manufacturing Consent), who presents a deeper analysis of the role the mainstream media play in supporting our governments and corporations and letting them get away with terrible – at times murderous – policies.

From RottenTomatoes:

Provides stimulating evidence of how thoroughly news can be skewed, political agendas served and a climate of fear created.

An often grave but sometimes hilarious picture of a hugely powerful network.

This is an op-ed polemic, and it’s refreshing to see one so skillfully produced by filmmakers with a shoestring budget and meager access to mainstream distribution.

A hard-hitting and frightening expose of ‘Fair and Balanced’ TV news.

This necessary work records in-depth how unreliable the news is on Fox.

For independent thinkers and those who think of journalism as a profession of accuracy, fairness and ethics, there’s more than enough to chew on.

The entertaining “Outfoxed” comes to the ourageous conclusion that Fox News is not fair and balanced. Gosh, who knew?

While Outfoxed surely will appeal more to liberals than to conservatives, its value to its self-selected audience lies not in upending anyone’s expectations, but in taking the uninitiated down the Fox News rabbit hole.

A damning and thorough indictment of Fox News’s dishonest reporting