Friday, October 22, 2004

OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism


Outfoxed is more like a TV documentary than a feature, but it is a lot of fun, in an apocalyptic sort of way. It is a scathing look at the world of Cable News and the bias that goes along with it. In particular, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News is deconstructed into the partisan Republican voice-box that it is.
Now many of you would say: "Duh...they don't need a documentary to tell me that!" But, as there are a lot of people out there (or so i'm told) that just believe the news they see and think no further on it. This documentary tries show how not reporting certain stories and blowing non-stories to lead-in items (i.e. manufacturing the lead story rather than reporting it) are just plain common practice for Fox. (Again, "Duh!").
The fun part is to watch this documentary use many of the same tactics to bring Fox and it's celebrity-level newscasters, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly down a few pegs. This is well deserved, but it hurts the credibility of the doc when it becomes an issue of the 'Pot calling the Kettle Black'.
In light of the recent spat with Jon Stewart on CNNs Crossfire, are we on the verge of actually examining the level that the News Media has sunk down to in the 21st Century? "I'm mad as hell..." indeed.

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