Directed by Robert Greenwald

George W. Bush as Himself
Dick Cheney as Himself
Sean Hannity as Himself
Al Franken as Himself
Alan Colmes as Himself
Jeremy Glick as Himself
Ted Kennedy as Himself
Dan Rather as Himself
Martin Sheen as Himself
George Carlin as Himself
Walter Cronkite as Himself
Susan Estrich as Herself


Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)


The Storyline / plot

Like most, I try to stay away from, politics and religion as discussion topics. I have managed to do this for the majority of my life. That has changed since the War in Iraq. The reason is very simple, it has made a large impact on my life. It seems that I am a part of a group that still believes that Democracy, our government, our way of life, our standard of living, our military and our country is still the best in the world. More and more people are generating hate towards the United States every day. Even the people in the United States dislike the place. I have been around the world and the United States in the best place to live in my opinion. I still trust our government, whether Clinton sends me to Bosnia or Bush sends me to Iraq, it’s my believe that they know what they are doing. I have been reading and watching these books and films about current events. I am very interested to see why I went to war. I want to see if my service to this country as a soldier, was in vein. I want to find out if my fellow countrymen have died for some other reason that I am unaware of. This is why I have been and will continue to review these political films. It is not my intention to push Republicans or bash Democrats. I think their both equally useless. I did not care for either party, so registered as an American Independent. The Army told me that this was a racist platform. I had no idea, so changed to Independent. I guess that’s OK.

Outfoxed has become a popular documentary. I watch Fox news, so thought that I should see this film. I know the Democrats do not like the station at all. I generally watch the morning news, and Fox Stox. There are two conservative programs that air on Fox; The Hannity & Colmes Show and The O’Reilly Factor. I also sometimes watch Special Report with Brit Hume.The only show that I watch that was not brought up was Fox Stox. The rest of the programs that I watch are right wing, conservative, Republican slanted garbage according to Outfoxed. Here are some of the reasons why. The majority of the Republican Fox News contributors are well known people. On the other hand, the Democratic Fox News contributors are nobodies. Furthermore if the Democratic contributors disagree “too” much, they are not invited back. The film supports this statement with an interview with a former Democratic contributor who was on the Hannity & Colmes Show. He was asked if the United States could fight a two front war. His answer was No. So he was not invited back because he was a democrat. I think the gentleman was not invited back because of his answer, myself. Sixty years a go we could and did fight a war on several fronts. Now we can not fight a war on two? Just a thought…

Then the film covers how Fox reports and commentators will cut people off when they disagree. Most of these are interviews with Hannity and O’Reilly. Both of these guys are very over bearing and in fact do cut people off. This is supported by a slew of actual clips of various interviews. There is one interview that was a trip. This was an interview by O’Reilly with a guy by the name of Jeremy Glick. Mr. Glick had lost his father in the WTC attack and blamed the attack on Bush senior and had no ill feelings toward Afghanistan / Taliban. I was amazed and O’Reilly was livid. He cut's the mic and threatened to thump this guy off camera if he did not leave.

Outfoxed also accuses news anchor, Brit Hume of being a dirty, rotten, Republican scoundrel, right winger, yahoo. I never really looked at him in that light. There was not much supporting evidence on this. Dan Rather and CBS are never mentioned? I find it funny that a conservative news organization is a very bad thing but all of the liberal media is fine. Most of the gentlemen appearing in Outfoxed are former MSNBC employees. There are two or three former Fox employees as well. These former employees have nothing good to say about Fox? They say, you either have a conservative slant or your fired. These former employees also state that Fox changes the context of words and stories. For instance, Marine Snipers are not to be referred to as snipers, they are to be referred to as, sharpshooters. Furthermore Fox News displays some odd polls and graphics.

Outfoxed also gets into what they refer to as the “echo chamber” effect. This is where they say “some people say” and the story spreads and before long everyone is reporting a story that has no actual source. Fox also has a “Message Of The Day” this message is always something conservative and may coincide with the echo chamber. The documentary also claims that Fox bashes gays, abortion rights, Jesse Jackson and installs fear in it’s audience. When ever Fox shows a gay marriage the gay couple tends to be “dumpy looking”. They also tend to spend too much time concerning the separation of State and Church. The fear factor is something that Fox news uses to manipulate and scare their viewers. Outfoxed says that Fox news generates fear of the gays, Anthrax, terrorist and is the best propaganda machine in the history of the world. Furthermore Fox News runs to many positive stories on Iraq.

Lastly the documentary gets into why George W. Bush won the election because of Fox news. It seems that George Bush’s cousin was the man who called Florida for Bush while working for Fox news during the election. This action caused the other networks to do the same. Thus costing Gore the election. I was not aware that Bush had a cousin that worked at Fox, so this was interesting to me.


Quotes From Outfoxed

Advice from a former MSNBC employee
…become an activist

Conclusion

I find these political documentaries very hard to rate. They generate a lot of feeling, some good and some not so good. Even if I disagree with the content in the film, is it a poor film? I don’t think so. Outfoxed is a well put together film. The interviews were solid. The interviewees were all credible and intelligent. The cinematography and editing was well done. Unlike many recent documentaries, Outfoxed combines it’s stories and makes it’s case in good order. As a result, the pace of the film is good.

I do not agree with a lot of the content in Outfoxed. I will continue to watch the Fox News Network. But I will pay more attention to hidden slants. I will also start looking at other News networks and their political slants on issues. I think the film should be watched by everyone. The film brings up some interesting points whether you agree with the content or not. Politics and Media are something that never should have been mixed together. Unfortunately, politics are everywhere now and slants are found on every news network. There is a lot of useful information in the documentary. However, I do not agree with the content of this documentary, I give this film three stars. I would recommend Outfoxed to anyone. They should have examined every news network, individually and their different slants. Now that would have been interesting!



[ A general rant on the Outfoxed documentary and the Media… ]

I am getting more and more educated every day. Michael Moore in all of his wisdom has showed me why I went to war with his documentary, Fahrenheit 911. Now Robert Greenwald has explained to me why I should not watch my news channel of choice with his Outfoxed documentary. So I should have left for Canada when my National Guard unit was mobilized. I should also quit watching Fox news and tune into MSNBC. Now that the timber industry is shut down I can’t go to work there. I can become an activist though, does chaining myself to a tree qualify? Man times are changing.

What did I get out of Outfoxed? I watch Fox news because they do support soldiers (Wounded Warrior) and they do show some of the positives that are happening in Iraq. I was not aware that this organization is such a threat to the Democratic party, they obviously are. I rarely watch Hannity, Colmes or O’Reilly. When you see the bad footage of them compiled it sure makes them appear to be bad guys. How bad are these guys? I don’t know but according to this documentary they are BAD NEWS! I wonder what news network I am supposed to watch? Most of the interviewees had something to do with MSNBC, I assuming that I should start watching that news network. What if I am not a Democrat or Republican? They all have a slant… give me a break!

Is there something wrong about being passionate about your party if you still believe in the system? Should someone who is on the other side, be wrong? I don’t think so… You can be a Democrat, Republican or Independent, you can be enthusiastic about it too. There’s nothing wrong with that. All of these films are dividing our country even more than it already is! People are starting to get carried away with this whole thing. Debate, don’t attack…

If you ban Fox news than you’d have to ban them all. Everyone of them have a slant to the left or the right. Then you would end up loosing one of our most cherished rights. How about you watch your news and I’ll pick which ever news I want to watch.

There was one line that was stated during this film that stuck with me. It was something like this; with so much corporate control over the media we are loosing our democracy. I do believe that statement. I believe that both Republicans and Democrats have lost touch with reality. Both parties are passing laws and creating more regulations. Both parties are self serving and neither of them represent me. Unemployed loggers do make count for many votes.


Similar Movies

• Control Room
• Outfoxed, Rupert Murdoch
• Fahrenheit 911
• Fahrenhype 911
• Uncovered: The War On Iraq

RUNTIME: 1 HOUR 18 MINUTES
Rated: [Not Rated]

Thanks for the read,

©2005 Joe McMaster

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older