Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
This film examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news, and provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangerous 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."
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Thanks for the memories!
Fantastic!
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
This documentary highlights everything that's bad about Fox News. It is scary to watch how biased a news channel can be - especially when their own slogan used to be "Fair and Balanced". You want to laugh out loud in disgust an disbelief that Fox News in fact promotes themselves as balanced - when they are everything but! They are definitely doing everything WRONG when it comes to journalistic standards - and serving their very well thought messages to the people as "news". Fox News is a propaganda machine for very conservative, republican values - and at least they should own up to it and declare what they are - instead of acting like they are fair and balanced. It is a disgrace for journalism that a news channel like Fox News exists. This documentary is very powerful, and it is so important that people realize how biased Fox News is. I really loved the part where the hosts are all saying "some people say" - instead of citing actual sources. It is so ridiculous! I love that this documentary is showing these awful methods.
Fox has never been known for the its integrity or desire to improve society. That is probably why it has done so well. So it's no surprise that when it started a news channel that it would be any different. Outfoxed analyzes the channel and shows just how far off the mark this channel has become, how it has affected American society and why it is doing this. While the inter-cut titles and 'effects' make this feel a little amateur, the interviews and content put any questions to rest. Outfoxed is definitely not for the right wing crowd, conveying its facts with an agenda, but the off-kiltered reporting displayed is undeniable. A very interesting documentary.
Finally it's been made. Actually it was made several years ago, but thank God it was. For those who expect more from "news" stations, who believe that all of them, whether they be MSNBC or CNN or yes, Fox News, can and should do so much more to offer viewers unbiased news coverage and balanced commentary, this film is sure to incite some anger. The film makes one main point: it's not that Fox isn't good at being nonpartisan; it simply doesn't want to try. If it did its ratings would plummet and the film explains just why.The documentary is about as low budget as they come. No great special effects or artistic twists, but it succeeds at expressing its point in a concise manner and by using plenty of information from former Fox employees and excerpts of newscasts.If you believe Fox News is the only true fair and balanced news network, you'll probably turn the film off after a matter of minutes. That's what happened when I showed the film to my very conservative father. But otherwise, you'll probably find the film to be both bold and informative, one that confirms what many have long expected to be true.
>Outfoxed< shows how FoX News Channel has developed a format intended more to manipulate the thoughts of viewers than to inform. FoX, which claims to be "Fair and Balanced" is the antithesis of fairness and balance, as the documentary shows.The creators of >Outfoxed< give credit to FoX News for slick innovations in television journalism, including the establishment of a corporate identity (one could never confuse FoX News with some other form of TV journalism), musical motifs that set the tone, and such a device as the "FoX News Alert" that draws attention to a breaking story. But they also expose the manipulativeness of FoX News for misusing the News Alert for titillating items.The documentary shows how those who go along with FoX News' editorial opinions get the royal treatment, yet those who run afoul of it get cut down. Bill O'Reilly is shown telling his interviewees to "Shut up!" when they go 'too far' in contradicting him and, in one case, the use of odd camera angles to make someone who disagrees with him (a son of a 9/11 victim refusing to go along with the aggressive foreign policy of the Bush Administration) look like a terrorist, bum, or monster. It also shows how FoX debased reporting at formerly-independent TV stations such as WTTG (Channel 5 in Washington DC) as Murdoch took them over.The great fault of FoX News is that although it consumes much time of a viewer it offers little news -- but much scripted analysis intended more to convince than to inform. >Outfoxed< gets FoX... right.