Saturday, August 28, 2004
Review du Jour: Outfoxed
I finally managed to watch Outfoxed:Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. Now, here's a movie that anyone interested in the media should be watching. A lot of it did not come as news to me, since I was involved in a project at Columbia that researched media concentration in the United States since the early 80's. Even so, it was a very disturbing look at Faux News, where the news and commentary blur into something that only a right-wing loon would call even mildly entertaining (check the footage of Bill O'Reilly asking the son of a 9/11 victim to shut up, for instance).
The movie consists of interviews with several ex-Fox News reporters, editors and contributors and what they have to say about Faux's so-called journalism is only part-amusing. Sure, Mike Moore made the point about Bush's first cousin at Faux being the first to call Bush as the winner in 2000, but somehow this movie is a little more convincing than F-9/11. I am guessing thats because the recorded material (done painstakingly by several volunteers) is proof of Faux's agenda in and of itself. The real tragedy in all of this is the seeming decision by CNN and MSNBC to follow in Fox's footsteps rather than stick to real journalism. One does to have to wonder then about corporate control of a vital cog of democracy and also at what point the FCC needs to intervene in some form to check unprecedented consolidation.
Here's what stuck out in the movie for me. A media analyst makes the observation that in the former Soviet Union, the citizens knew that Pravda and other state-controlled media were simply propaganda tools and therefore knew how to filter out the crap. Trouble is Americans do believe they are hearing the truth from the media because they dont expect it to be propaganda. And thats the real danger of letting Faux News run amok. In a similar vein, Indians expect malpractices in Bihar every election cycle and therefore make the necessary adjustments. Americans, on the other hand, do not expect malpractices in the Florida elections.
On another note, this documentary also serves as a warning to those of us in Asia who dont really think too much about media consolidation or Murdoch's (and his conservative agenda's) increasing reach into Asian homes. True, Star is not anywhere near as sinister, but this fair and balanced look at Faux serves as a reminder as to what the Murdoch media empire in Asia could morph into if it had the sort of power it has in western media markets.
The movie consists of interviews with several ex-Fox News reporters, editors and contributors and what they have to say about Faux's so-called journalism is only part-amusing. Sure, Mike Moore made the point about Bush's first cousin at Faux being the first to call Bush as the winner in 2000, but somehow this movie is a little more convincing than F-9/11. I am guessing thats because the recorded material (done painstakingly by several volunteers) is proof of Faux's agenda in and of itself. The real tragedy in all of this is the seeming decision by CNN and MSNBC to follow in Fox's footsteps rather than stick to real journalism. One does to have to wonder then about corporate control of a vital cog of democracy and also at what point the FCC needs to intervene in some form to check unprecedented consolidation.
Here's what stuck out in the movie for me. A media analyst makes the observation that in the former Soviet Union, the citizens knew that Pravda and other state-controlled media were simply propaganda tools and therefore knew how to filter out the crap. Trouble is Americans do believe they are hearing the truth from the media because they dont expect it to be propaganda. And thats the real danger of letting Faux News run amok. In a similar vein, Indians expect malpractices in Bihar every election cycle and therefore make the necessary adjustments. Americans, on the other hand, do not expect malpractices in the Florida elections.
On another note, this documentary also serves as a warning to those of us in Asia who dont really think too much about media consolidation or Murdoch's (and his conservative agenda's) increasing reach into Asian homes. True, Star is not anywhere near as sinister, but this fair and balanced look at Faux serves as a reminder as to what the Murdoch media empire in Asia could morph into if it had the sort of power it has in western media markets.
