Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)
Carolina Productions

Description

For the first time ever, this documentary 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."

"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.

"Outfoxed" first examines media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the Australian company, News Corp., tracing how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) helped Murdoch break the rules to establish a fourth network in the United States. 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 and Chellie Pingree, provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.

The team behind "Outfoxed" created a system to monitor Fox News 24 hours a day for months to discover exactly how its shows worked. A team of volunteers around the country scrutinized every hour of Fox News programming, noting examples of bias in its coverage. The result is an intense examination of Fox News and the lie inherent in its favorite motto: "Fair and Balanced."

Tags

Journalism

Collected reviews and ratings

10 Salon.com | Andrew O'Hehir

Even if you think you're wise to Fox News' right-wing agenda, Robert Greenwald's "Outfoxed" will leave you very afraid.
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10 Combustible Celluloid | Rob Blackwelder

The most scrupulous, most focused, most thorough, and arguably most important of 2004's wave of activist documentaries, Outfoxed exposes in detail the relentless partisanship and repetitive propaganda at Rupert Murdoch's Fox News by using the network's own program footage (and former employees) to corroborate its every assertion.
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10 digitallyobsessed.com | Jon Danziger

Outfoxed will make your blood boil if you agree with its premises (as I do), and that's just the response that the filmmakers are looking for. Thank them for their efforts, and then surf on over to C-SPAN.
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8.0 Amazon user reviews

Outfoxed is unlikely to persuade Fox News fans to change their views, but it may spur outraged liberals to take action.
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8.0 Variety | David Rooney

Greenwald's film provides stimulating evidence of how thoroughly news can be skewed, political agendas served and a climate of fear created by a news net selling itself as an objective information service but in reality offering little distinction between news and commentary.
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8.0 New York Times | A. O. Scott

''Outfoxed'' will inevitably be discussed in the same breath (or with the same hyperventilating rage) as Michael Moore's ''Fahrenheit 9/11,'' but it lacks both the showmanship and the scope of that incendiary film.
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8.0 PopMatters.com | Terry Sawyer

Newsflash: The Fox News Network is to journalism what pederasts are to dark playgrounds.
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8.0 DVD Talk | Stuart Galbraith IV

The film convincingly demonstrates how, with its cutting-edge use of graphics, Fox pushes a none-too-subtle daily agenda. Even to the naked eye, its political manipulation is quite obvious.
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8.0 DVD Town | Alison McMahan

"Outfoxed" brought to television the question of corporate ownership of the media and the conflict of interests it entails. It aims to show that the Fox Channel News is "less about news and more about punditry" and in fact is a mouthpiece for the Bush administration.
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8.0 PopMatters.com | Stuart Henderson

It is an illuminating, frustrating, and utterly damning film. While it is no doubt hated by its critics – it has been called “rank propaganda ... the distorted work of an ultra-liberal filmmaker” by Bill O’Reilly, probably the figure whose reputation was most damaged by the film – it is seen as essential viewing by its fans.
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7.5 Reel | Ken Dubois

For anyone who still believes that television reporters or anchors on any channel can do their thinking for them, Outfoxed is a sharp and important wake-up call. Forming an informed opinion may be more difficult, and more important, than ever before.
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7.0 Eye For Film | Paul Griffiths

Yes, it's one-sided and there is not a single talking head to say anything in support of Fox News under Murdoch. But that's the point. Greenwald is clear that the channel's had more than enough say; this is the response, an effort to try and redress the balance again.
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7.0 filmcritic.com | Matt Langdon

Outfoxed simply tells everyone what they already know about FOX News. Far more interesting is the subject of media consolidation, which is only touched on at the beginning and the end.
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