STUDIO: Disinformation Company
RELEASE DATE: July 29, 2008
DIRECTED BY: Robert Greenwald
FEATURES: 18 Fox Attacks Shorts

If you’ve read any of my earlier pieces on the state of today’s news coverage (News Coverage: Do You Believe and The New Age of News... You Be the Judge), you’re already aware that I’m not big fan of how television news coverage has evolved and how journalists have been turned into media celebrities. So when a Special Edition DVD release of Robert Greenwald’s 2004 documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism hit my desk, I could hardly wait to crack it open. In the documentary, Greenwald explores the contentious assertion that the Rupert Murdoch owned Fox News network is nothing more than a biased Republican stronghold bent on dispensing its own unwavering agenda on the masses while analysts, anchors, and journalists across the news landscape influence news stories through their own opinions. Drawing upon expert opinion, former employees, memos, and news footage, Outfoxed is a ballsy journey into a skewed media movement that has compromised public trust.

However...

In just the four short years since the release of Greenwald’s biting documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, a lot has changed within the broadcast journalism landscape. What was certainly more of a heated issue in 2004 for many regarding Fox News has seemingly become unspoken common knowledge to many. The most convincing evidence in the documentary of the Bush administration’s alleged ties to Fox News is highlighted by a series of daily story meetings where the network’s focal points mirror those prepared by Republican allies and what the White House has already laid out behind closed doors. Is it true? Well, that depends on who you’re talking political smack with while watching the news.

Although much of the documentary spreads out convincing culled-together information that reveals how Fox News has purposely spread its own agenda, Outfoxed relies on the age-old theory that if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, smells like a duck, it’s gotta be a duck. It’s the only place Greenwald could go since Republicans would say it’s false while Democrats would say its true... the same old, same old go nowhere merry-go-round politics.

In terms of morality within today’s news coverage, after watching the documentary it’s hard to believe it even exists. If it did exist, it might be gone forever. The new Outfoxed re-release is a strong indictment of Fox News on the grounds of its alleged disinformation, misinformation, or just downright inaccurate information. That’s not to mention the "Fox Effect", which Greenwald exposes as a tactic used to gain the upper hand on the competition. It doesn’t matter whether you care what Rush Limbaugh thinks or can stomach what Bill O’Reilly has to say, Outfoxed underscores that today’s conglomerate dominated news business is a dirty game. And if you have a keen enough eye, you’ll see it’s mostly psychological. As laid out in the special features containing 18 Fox Attacks shorts, how many times can you falsely report that Barack Obama was a Muslim before the public buys into it? Ever wonder why you end up buying so much Tide instead of Ivory detergent? Think about it for a second. Do you even know why you like it?

The biggest difference in the in past four years since the doc’s release is that political bias and influence in how the news is reported is even more rampant across the competition than it was in 2004. Contrary to popular belief, Fox News and its chieftains aren’t the only culprits by a long shot. If you tune into any one of Fox News’ competitors, you’ll see the same thing from the opposite angle. Outfoxed details how news organizations have allowed their anchors and journalists to insert their own opinions into coverage, destroying any notion of unbiased news. As a test, put your political affiliations aside and watch Fox News on Monday then tune in to CNN on Tuesday and then on Wednesday ask yourself why a news reporter’s opinion matters, why it’s credible, and what gives their opinion more clout than yours.

Although Outfoxed lays out the information in a way that makes sense with the pieces falling into place in regard to Fox News, there’s still far too many intangible elements at play for the documentary to be an evidentiary last word on what is exactly taking place in the new age of news. What Robert Greenwald does deserve huge credit for is alerting the public to a different side of the news behind the camera. Outfoxed illustrates how it’s less about news and more about power and political agenda... especially if you’re paying attention.