''Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism'' is a

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

Robert Greenwald about

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...

's and its owner's,

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

, promotion of

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

views. The film says this

bias Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, a group ...

belies the channel's motto of being "Fair and Balanced". The documentary had a limited theatrical release, was distributed in DVD format by the political action committee MoveOn.org, and was sold online through Internet retailers such as Amazon.com. MoveOn.org had helped promote the DVD release by taking out a full-page advertisement in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Following the release of ''Outfoxed'', Greenwald and Brave New Films produced a related series of anti-Fox

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, collectively entitled '' Fox Attacks''. In an interview, Greenwald stated his goal in making the film: "What we set out to do was to show that, in fact, the entire Fox News was not a news organization. The goal was not just to change that narrative but to change the impact that Fox News often had on legitimate journalists." Fox News criticized the film, saying that it constituted "illegal copyright infringement" for using clips of its shows and said that the film misrepresented the employment of four people identified as former Fox News employees.

Synopsis

The film examines the global growth of Murdoch's media enterprise in the context of

concentration of media ownership Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates in ...

considerations, and evaluates the effect of having one person in control of a large media

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

. Some of ''Outfoxed''s coverage includes: * Review of Fox News's coverage during the lead-up to, and the aftermath of, the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

. * Interviews with former Fox News journalists, discussing incidents where Fox News allegedly pressured journalists to slant their reports towards support for the Republican Party. * Instances where Fox News commentators such as Bill O'Reilly intimidate guests with whom they disagree, such as author and activist Jeremy Glick. * Studies which claim more airtime and coverage is consistently given to

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politicians, particularly those in the George W. Bush administration, than to Democrats. * Examination of whether Fox News' premature result-calling of the 2000 presidential election contributed to George W. Bush officially being elected. * Scrutiny of Fox News management, including Murdoch and president

Roger Ailes Roger Eugene Ailes (May 15, 1940 – May 18, 2017) was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for Republica ...

, both

s, in allegedly controlling the network's content, and editorial control from Murdoch on down allegedly ensuring which stories and issues are covered and the strongly conservative perspective of such coverage. Former Fox News journalists appear in the film critiquing the methods and perceived integrity of their former employer. Jon Du Pre, a former reporter for Fox News's West Coast bureau, said that he had been suspended by Fox News management because his live shots from the

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Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's birthday — which Du Pre described was like a "holy day" to Fox News's hierarchy — were not "celebratory enough." A former Fox News military contributor,

Larry C. Johnson Larry C. Johnson is an American blogger and former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. He is the co-owner and CEO of BERG Associates, LLC (Business Exposure Reduction Group). Background Johnson worked at the CIA for four years as an ...

, said that he was in high demand to give on-air analysis on the "

War on Terrorism The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

", until he called into question on ''

Hannity & Colmes ''Hannity & Colmes'' was a live television show on Fox News in the United States, hosted by Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, who respectively presented a conservative and liberal perspective. The series premiered on October 7, 1996, and the final e ...

'' whether or not the United States could fight two wars (in

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and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

) simultaneously, an incident after which Johnson says he was ignored as a potential Fox News contributor.

Participants

* Alterman, Eric * Brock, David * Cheek, Douglas * Clarke, Richard A. * Cohen, Jeff * Cronkite, Walter * Du Pre, Jon * Franken, Al * Glick, Jeremy * Nichols, John * Sanders, Bernie * Westin, Av

Reception

''Outfoxed'' received positive reviews from critics. On

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the film has a score of 85% based on reviews from 60 critics.

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reviewer David Rooney wrote that the film "provides stimulating evidence of how thoroughly news can be skewed, political agendas served and a climate of fear created by a news net selling itself as an objective information service." He compares it favorably to

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

's documentary ''

Fahrenheit 9/11 ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' is a 2004 American documentary film directed, written by, and starring filmmaker, director, political commentator and activist Michael Moore. The film takes a liberal, critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, th ...

'', adding that without the "media spotlight" that surrounded Moore's film, ''Outfoxed'' "appears unlikely to reach beyond a liberal audience with an already vehement aversion to Fox News' partisan coverage."

Howard Kurtz Howard Alan Kurtz (; born August 1, 1953) is an American journalist and author best known for his coverage of the media. Kurtz is the host of Fox News's '' Media Buzz'' program, the successor to ''Fox News Watch''. He is the former media writer f ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' praised Greenwald's uncovering of "...a handful of memos from a top Fox executive", which he argued suggested network bias over the

war in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. Other armed conflicts involving Iraq * Wars during Mandatory Iraq ** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921 * Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...

and the investigation of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. Kurtz was critical of how Greenwald's allegations relied on "orders, or attitudes, of an unnamed 'they'...", and was critical of the filmmaker for making "...no effort at fairness or balance himself." Megan Lehmann wrote in the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch's

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...

, called the film a "narrowly focused, unapologetically partisan documentary," that it "is so one-sided, it undermines its own integrity."

Fox News' response

Fox News called the film "illegal copyright infringement" for its use of clips from Fox News Channel programs. Fox News also said that the film misrepresented the employment of four people identified as former Fox News employees. Fox News said Alexander Kippen and Frank O'Donnell had actually been employees of

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA sh ...

, the Fox owned-and-operated station in Washington, D.C., and not employees of Fox News Channel. It said that Jon Du Pre, identified as a former anchor in the film, had actually been a reporter, and that his contract had not been renewed because he was "a weak field correspondent and could not do live shots." It said that Clara Frenk, identified as a former producer in the film, had actually been a "pool booker" who "expressed no concern about the editorial process" while employed there. Fox also pointed out that Frenk had been a volunteer for

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

's 1992 Presidential campaign. Fox News challenged any news organization that thought this was a major story to "put out 100 percent of their editorial directions and internal memos ndFox News Channel will publish 100 percent of our editorial directions and internal memos, and let the public decide who is fair."

References

External links