Check out the blogs of Clara Frenk (FOX whistleblower), Larry Lessig (legal advisor), Jim Gilliam (co-producer), and The Newshounds (FOX researchers).

Back to review list

The West Australian, Ron Banks (October 27, 2004)

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News promotes its coverage of political events in the US as "fair and balanced". What this documentary by Robert Greenwald shows conclusively is that its television coverage is so blatantly biased, conservative and pro-Bush that the words, balance and fairness, have been banished from their lexicon.

It is blatant hypocrisy for Fox - or its owner, Rupert Murdoch - to suggest that left-wing voices or anyone opposed to the Bush administration gets a fair go on this news channel.

Take the case of its leading commentator, Bill O'Reilly, who hectors and tries to intimidate guests whose views don't accord with his own, and simply orders "cut the microphone" when exchanges become heated. O'Reilly is the kind of guy who makes Alan Jones look like a member of the bleeding hearts club.

But it's a sad commentary on media ethics that he is allowed to continue his bias - and even worse that he is popular among a large segment of conservative, John Kerry-hating voters.

This up-to-the-minute documentary takes a very close look at Fox News' coverage of the US presidential election, a coverage that is so pro-Bush that no opportunity is lost to discredit Kerry and his campaigners.

There is an illuminating pre-interview chat between a Fox interviewer and President Bush in which it is revealed that the interviewer's wife is running the presidential campaign in one of the States. "She's a good soul," says Bush to his interviewer in a cosy exchange before the interviewer gets down to the serious business of dissecting Bush's policies.

We don't see the interview that went to air but the point has been made. This particular journalist has such a serious family conflict of interest that management should immediately have replaced him with someone more balanced. But that is not Fox's style.

There is also the amusing revelation that in its effort to make Kerry appear in as bad a light as possible someone came up with the suggestion that he "looked French" rather than like an American hero should do. Fox ran with this line over a series of interviews, even down to finding a French academic to talk about the differences between French and American culture.

But there is far more serious evidence of bias to be made against Fox than simply linking Kerry to the perfidious French. O'Reilly is shown badgering a young man whose father was killed in the New York terrorist attack. The man, Jeremy Glick, takes an extreme Left position on the bombing of Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, arguing that it was Bush's fault that Arab terrorists hate Americans so much.

When the extreme Left meets Bill O'Reilly's extreme Right, it is obvious who is going to win the day. The "cut the microphone" technique works perfectly in silencing unpalatable ideas.

The most interesting revelations of the insidious nature of news bias in Fox comes from former insiders - journalists and anchormen who have either left the organisation in disgust or been dismissed for refusing to distort the news on the orders of management. Interestingly, the tone of each day's news presentation is set by a management memo which suggests how interviews can promote Bush while denigrating Kerry.

If those orders are subtle ways of subverting journalistic ethics about balance, the between-stories promotions give away the game without any sense of shame. As the presidential election draws closer, Fox has taken to flashing words such as "104 days to the re-election of the Bush government".

And the banter between presenters takes up the same theme.

Greenwald's documentary suggests that Fox's deliberate technique of "wrapping themselves in the flag" - that is, becoming the nation's most patriotic TV station - is good for business.

Maybe that is why Rupert Murdoch never blushes when he defends the indefensible. He's making a lot of money for his empire out of Fox.

But he should be ashamed that he has allowed media ethics and the values of journalism to be distorted in this nakedly dishonest way. And so should the journalists who work for the organisation.

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism is a brilliant piece of investigative journalism in itself and should be seen by anyone who values democratic fairness.

Perhaps it is not surprising, though, that the Murdoch-owned newspapers in this country have given the film only lukewarm praise at best or been dismissive of its importance.

It's a shameful example of self-censorship. This newspaper, by the way, has no links with Murdoch. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism opens tomorrow.