- OUTFOXED: Fox Doesn't Want You To See This Movie
; Sly as a
FOX a review of OutFoxed (part one)
By Anthony Wade
OpEdNews.Com
- In a season of important news stories, this should be at the
top. Most would probably concede that the FOX News channel is
right-leaning, and most would probably say they lean to the point that
they fall over, but Outfoxed clearly brings it together in a more
cohesive manner.
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- The amount of commentary to pay the appropriate attention to this
matter will require two separate articles, this being the first. As I
stated in the preview, Greenwald uses four areas, which he states when
seen together, amount to a clear pattern of propaganda, and not
journalism. Those areas are:
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Clips from FOX News
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Stories from the former FOX employees
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F.A.I.R. study of FOX news
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Internal FOX memos
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- The second article will specifically address the internal memos
leaked through this documentary. They need separate attention because
there are so many excellent examples, from the mouth of FOX themselves
that prove that they are not a news organization, but rather a shill
for the Bush Administration.
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- The clips from FOX themselves are probably the most effective tool
used by Greenwald in this movie. There is nothing more damning than
having Bill O’Reilly state that in the six years of his show, he
only told a guest to shut up one time, then to see in rapid-fire
style, him saying it over and over again, to many guests. It also was
particularly frightening to see the Jeremy Glick interview. Mr. Glick
was the son of a man who died in the 911 attacks who had gone against
the administration’s war policies. O’Reilly pushed hard for him to
come on his show, and eventually Glick agreed. Jeremy gives us insight
into his “training” to have to go on the show, including having to
use a stopwatch to make sure he could get his main point out, before O’Reilly
tossed him. To watch Glick, bravely explaining that he didn’t
believe that America was blameless for the attacks, and to see O’Reilly
get more and more heated until he finally says, “I hope your mother
isn’t watching this”, cutting his microphone, and tossing him out
with security, is quite disturbing. Of course, after the cameras
stopped rolling, O’Reilly’s famous quote was “get him out of
here before I f*cking tear him to pieces! Ahh fair and balanced.
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- The clips expertly displayed the way this network operates. The
upper management would pass out talking points of the day, suggesting
which way the news should be directed, then every show that day, would
go out and parrot the talking points, which obviously came from the
RNC, or the administration. So, if the topic of the day is that Kerry
is a flip-flopper, then Greenwald walks you through every FOX
commentator that day, speaking that line, in many different ways, but
to drive home the talking point, that Kerry is a flip-flopper. In one
amusing point, the topic of the day was apparently to say that Kerry
looked “French”, the connotation being negative because of France’s
opposition to our war. I thought there would be no way this would be
parroted, but sure enough, Greenwald walks us through many different
FOX commentators stating in some manner or another, that Kerry looks
French, even having a French guest on one of the shows to discuss why
it is not a good idea for Kerry to be correlated to the French at this
point in time; priceless.
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- The other techniques exposed by using the clips and the testimonies
of the former employees is the way the news is framed. When FOX shows
clips of the President, he is always framed in as best a light as
possible, looking Presidential. Conversely, when they show Kerry, he
is walking out of a Wal-Mart talking to a small group of people in a
parking lot. These are very subtle, yet effective tools they utilize.
When you combine this with the fact that FOX will constantly cut to
Bush live, the resulting coverage is neither fair, nor balanced. The
constant coverage of Bush live, almost gives the appearance that FOX
is Bush’s public relations agent, which is the point of Outfoxed.
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- One thing, which I had not picked up on, was the use of background
graphics. There is always a trailer at the bottom, or some kind of
symbol somewhere in the background. When you look at what is being
represented, it is usually either pro-Bush, or anti-democrat. If there
is an alleged “fair and balanced” debate going on about Kerry
switching his mind on subjects, the trailer will read “Kerry a
flip-flopper?” This psuedo-fair technique can actually be considered
subliminal, or as Bush likes to say, subliminable. The idea is that
you put in the mind of the viewer, what your conclusion is.
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- Another interesting point made by Greenwald was the use of the
phrase, “some people say”, to interject opinion or commentary into
segments which are supposed to be news. Greenwald effectively uses
multiple clips, of all FOX personalities, using this phrase to taint
the news and it was very effective. Besides this Greenwald exposes the
fact that FOX has virtually never painted the Bush economy negatively,
it is always on the upswing, growing, and as we will see in the memos,
this slant was ordered. Even when the economy is shown as negative,
such as a drop in the market on the Neil Cavuto show, it is described
as being caused by investors concerned about a Kerry victory due to a
poll. The message: support the President and the stock market will go
up.
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- The FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) study looked at a
25-week period of time for the Special Report with Brit Hume show and
who the one-on-one guest was each night. This study showed that 83% of
these guests were from the right, and of the 17% that were from the
democratic side; most of those were centrist democrats. If FOX really
wanted to be fair and balanced, we would see a more balanced
percentage.
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- The personal accounts were telling, and supportive of the overall
theme. One whistleblower, Larry Johnson, was a former terrorism expert
and FOX News contributor. A lifelong republican, Mr. Johnson is upset
that the Bush administration uses the FOX News channel as its
propaganda machine. He paints a story about giving his honest opinion
on Hannity and Colmes, but it disagreed with Hannity, which was not
his role as the right wing guest. The result? They never used him
again, even though he was under contract for two more months. These
whistleblowers are almost exclusively, lifers in the business, with
decades of experience.
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- What is the problem with all of this? You must understand that FOX
passes themselves off as a news network. That means that they are
supposed to research and present findings, not merely opinion. There
are people out there that watch this station as if it was providing
them with impartial news, when in reality it is feeding them the
talking points of the RNC and the White House. That is not only
inherently wrong, but it cuts to the heart of our democracy. If we
cannot rely on the media, then our information is controlled, not
accurate. Furthering this problem is that the other mainstream media
is also concentrated. About ten sources control nearly all mainstream
media in this country. These sources are corporations that do not have
your best interest at heart, but their own bottom-line profits. If
cow-towing to the administration is what is good for business, then
that is what they will do.
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- There is no better example of that than this story. Yesterday there
was a press conference announcing this movie at the Ritz-Carlton.
Tonight there was a premier at NYU. This is a major news story, yet
the silence is deafening. FOX threatened other stations to not cover
it and it looks like they may be bowing to the pressure. Ultimately,
Murdoch does not differ much from his counterparts, except in gall. In
the New York Daily News, it was only covered, in the gossip section!
The message is clear, mainstream media will want this to be a
non-story and only we can stop that. News stations are supposed to
provide fact, not rhetoric or opinion. Commentary shows can provide
opinion, but FOX has done such a masterful job of blurring the lines
between the two, that you can no longer tell the news from commentary.
They do not have to report, because they already decided what to tell
you and that should be very frightening to everyone in a free society.
Anthony Wade takebacktheus@gmail.com
is an independent writer from New York.
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