Outfoxed
Today, I got my DVD of Outfoxed delivered through my letterbox - my GF and I watched it tonight. It's quite clearly biased and one-sided... for one thing, nobody at Fox gets a chance to make their case - but it's really good nonetheless. Considering the Fox network's gift for self-aggrandising propaganda, the lack of an 'official opposite viewpoint' in Outfoxed is forgivable... Fox already have an official avenue for stating their case, and it'll reach a much wider audience than the documentary itself is every likely to.
There were certain sections that could have been a lot stronger - I would have liked to have seen more of Bill O'Reilly bullying his liberal guests and obnoxiously shouting down any opposition. The footage that was there however was pretty revealing. The daily briefing memos distributed within the network clearly show the Spin Machine in action, although really the footage extracted from the channel is enough to demonstrate that clearly enough to anyone with a glimmer of rationality,
There's nothing wrong with FOX news in itself - the problem is that it passes itself off as objective journalism when it's really little more than a semi-autonomous propaganda machine for the Republican party. I'm not naive enough to believe there is such a thing as a completely unbiased news source - but the difference is in intention. Most news sources make at least an attempt at objectivity, even if the inherent bias of the personal selection process ensures that any given story is likely to be slanted in a very personal way. Most reputable news sources don't employ vicious personal attack techniques to diminish the standing of those deemed to be politically incompatible with the editorial leaning. Most reputable journalists have a sense of integrity and ethics, and even if they have a particular political bias themselves, they attempt to ensure a clear divide between news and commentary.
Everyone should watch Outfoxed - especially those who consider it to be something other than misleading propaganda. I've referenced this report before, but it's sufficiently interesting that it's worth focusing your fickle attentions upon it once again.
There were certain sections that could have been a lot stronger - I would have liked to have seen more of Bill O'Reilly bullying his liberal guests and obnoxiously shouting down any opposition. The footage that was there however was pretty revealing. The daily briefing memos distributed within the network clearly show the Spin Machine in action, although really the footage extracted from the channel is enough to demonstrate that clearly enough to anyone with a glimmer of rationality,
There's nothing wrong with FOX news in itself - the problem is that it passes itself off as objective journalism when it's really little more than a semi-autonomous propaganda machine for the Republican party. I'm not naive enough to believe there is such a thing as a completely unbiased news source - but the difference is in intention. Most news sources make at least an attempt at objectivity, even if the inherent bias of the personal selection process ensures that any given story is likely to be slanted in a very personal way. Most reputable news sources don't employ vicious personal attack techniques to diminish the standing of those deemed to be politically incompatible with the editorial leaning. Most reputable journalists have a sense of integrity and ethics, and even if they have a particular political bias themselves, they attempt to ensure a clear divide between news and commentary.
Everyone should watch Outfoxed - especially those who consider it to be something other than misleading propaganda. I've referenced this report before, but it's sufficiently interesting that it's worth focusing your fickle attentions upon it once again.
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