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Next Brave New Film -- THE BIG BUY: How Tom DeLay Stole Congress.
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"It's unfair, it's slanted and it's a hit job. And I haven't even seen it yet."
"rank propaganda ... the distorted work of an ultra-liberal filmmaker"
"a third-rate hack job"
"a cheesy little so-called documentary about FOX News Channel, given the cutesy title 'Outfoxed.'"
"Bring it on!"
"To say that this network promotes the Republican view, not the conservative view, but the Republican view is like saying that the pope is Catholic. It's self-evident."
"They're on somewhat solid ground when they talk about -- if you look at some of the talk shows, the conservative hosts are much better at demonizing the Democrats than the liberal hosts of those shows."
Check out the blogs of Clara Frenk (FOX whistleblower), Larry Lessig (legal advisor), Jim Gilliam (co-producer), and The Newshounds (FOX researchers).
The Press, Margaret Agnew (December 11, 2004)
It may be significant that the only other people in the theatre with me were two men, and both had brought books to read while they waited for the film to start. It would be fair to say, then, that Outfoxed is cinema for the thinking man.
Outfoxed is a documentary focused on global-media-magnate Rupert Murdoch's American news channel, Fox.
It's an unintentional companion piece to recent political documentaries, such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Corporation, but is easier to watch in many ways, since the focus is much tighter.
Having watched Outfoxed soon after seeing the puppet satire on the state of the United States, I would say Team America: World Police is quite apposite, too.
Fast-paced, entertaining and at times scarily amusing, you don't need to be American to appreciate the effect a biased news provider can have on its audience.
Add to this the fact that Murdoch's news empire of TV stations, newspapers and magazines reaches three-quarters of the world's population and you've got a scary proposition indeed.
Murdoch's CEO and chairman, Roger Ailes, used to work for presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush snr. On his watch, reporters have orders to call US marines "sharpshooters" instead of "snipers", and to call "suicide bombers" "homicide bombers".
The many former Fox employees -- producers, reporters, writers, paid experts and even a graphic designer -- interviewed in this doco weren't afraid of using terms such as "propaganda" to describe the style of news at the network, but some were afraid of showing their faces.
They tell of being forced to create a fawning tribute to Reagan for his birthday (and being severely reprimanded for not being fawning enough), to embarrass and discredit Jesse Jackson, and to run uncut footage of George W. Bush whether he was newsworthy or not. Meanwhile, the American-flag- waving network runs this type of news under the logo of "Fair & Balanced".
Sure, this documentary is itself propaganda of a sort, but it makes no claims to be fair and balanced, and backs up most of its claims with facts.
It's unfortunate that the documentary has dated already, despite being only about six months old
It's still relevant, however, and important viewing for anyone interested in TV journalism, world politics and the public's right to know.