“Outfoxed” examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, have been running a “race to the bottom” in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public’s right to know.
The film explores Murdoch’s burgeoning kingdom and the impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person.
Media experts, including Walter Cronkite, Jeff Cohen (FAIR) Bob McChesney (Free Press), Chellie Pingree (Common Cause), Jeff Chester (Center for Digital Democracy) and David Brock (Media Matters) provide context and guidance for the story of Fox News and its effect on society.
This documentary also reveals the secrets of Former Fox news producers, reporters, bookers and writers who expose what it’s like to work for Fox News. These former Fox employees talk about how they were forced to push a “right-wing” point of view or risk their jobs. Some have even chosen to remain anonymous in order to protect their current livelihoods. As one employee said “There’s no sense of integrity as far as having a line that can’t be crossed.”
I was looking for a quote that pre-dates Google, wherein Murdoch is so incensed with CNN’s liberal bias, he dares Ted Turner to let him “sit in the control room and edit the news.” Now, at the time, that struck me as bizarre, as if Ted were coaching his on-air staff through the teleprompter or revising copy at a desk. But now we see that Murdoch got his wish. Rather than buying or building a news organization and letting reputable journalists run it (like Tom Johnson did at CNN), he owns a house organ that broadcasts his views as news.