News Compass

Saturday, February 12, 2005

The Truth about FOX NEWS : It is America's unashamed "PRAVDA"

Read here on the film documentary "OUTFOXED"

"A must-see movie, no matter what your politics are."-Christian Science Monitor

Watch the full-length trailer (Quicktime, Windows Media) or the teaser trailer (Quicktime, Windows Media).

Bill O'Reilly lied about a few things on Tim Russert's show, so here is a point-by-point rebuttal with scenes from Outfoxed. (Quicktime, 14MB)

O 'Reilly at His Best" (Quicktime)

Howard Dean outfoxed Sean Hannity on the convention floor Monday night, July 26th! Watch Hannity bumble and squirm on video.
Interviews held with Eric Alterman, David Brock, Wally Bowen, Jeff Chester, Jeff Cohen, Mark Cooper, Malkia Cyril, John Dunbar, Al Franken, Clara Frenk, Jeremy Glick, David Goodfriend, Peter Hart, Larry Irving, Larry Johnson, Gene Kimmelman, Robert McChesney, Mark Crispin Miller, John Nichols, Chellie Pingree, Steve Rendall, Bernie Sanders, Danny Schecter, James Wolcott, Av Westin

Interview Clips

Clara Frenk
Former Fox News Producer subject: Politicizing news coverage(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Alexander Kippen
Former Fox News Producer subject: The flag pays(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Jon Du PreFormer Fox News Anchor subject: Covering news for Fox(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Frank O'Donnell
Former Fox News producer subject: Fox political agenda and a Current Affair(Quicktime, Windows Media) Video powered by DVLABS.

Jeff Chester
Exec. Director Digital Democracy subject: Big media conglomerates dominate the debate(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Robert McChesny
Co-founder Free Press subject: Goebbels model of the press(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Chellie Pingree
President Common Cause subject: the FCC and informed members of a democracy(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Peter Hart
Media Analyst - FAIR subject: The effect of media consolidation on Journalism(Quicktime, Windows Media)

David Goodfriend
Former FCC attorney co founder Air America Radio(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Bernie Sanders
Independent Representative Vermont subject: Right wing influence in media(Quicktime, Windows Media)

Read HERE full article "Film accuses Fox of slanting the news" in USA Today

Outfoxed, which is being promoted by the liberal advocacy group MoveOn, charges that Fox News executives order their cable TV anchors, reporters and producers to slant the news to be pro-Republican and pro-Bush administration.
Fox News, which says it is the "fair and balanced" network, has long been accused by Democrats and liberals of having a conservative bias. Outfoxed adds to that debate through interviews with former Fox correspondents and producers, as well as memos written by Fox executives.
The memos, for example, portray Fox executives urging correspondents to remind viewers the United States "is in Iraq to help a country brutalized for 30 years protect the gains made by Operation Iraqi Freedom" — an argument for the war that is similar to the Bush administration's. However, Outfoxed does not mention other memos its researchers obtained from Fox News staffers.
Those memos, shown to USA TODAY, remind correspondents to give equal emphasis to speeches by President Bush and his opponent, Sen. John Kerry.
Another memo says, "Let's not overdo the appearances by Kerry swift boat mate John O'Neill," a man who raised questions about the senator's wartime record. "He represents one side of the 30-year recollections of what Kerry did, or didn't do, in uniform. Other people have different recollections," the memo says.
The film also says a study of guests on Fox's news and opinion shows over a 25-week period in 2003 showed that Republicans appeared five times more often
than Democrats.
A Fox News spokeswoman would not comment on the film on Sunday. Fox was
not given a chance to respond in the film.
The film's producer and director, Robert Greenwald, says he intentionally did not seek Fox's side. "Fox News is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Greenwald says.
"My little film is hardly going to address that imbalance. This really is David vs. Goliath."

Fox News calls itself “fair and balanced.”

But in the words of our greatest living newsman, Walter Cronkite, Fox has always intended to be “beyond conservative, a far-right wing organization.”

Cronkite was interviewed as part of a disturbing documentary called “OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism.” Through additional interviews with former Fox journalists—and extensive use of archival footage—Fox is proven to be virtually “G.O.P. TV.”

On its self-proclaimed “signature news show,” for example, five Republican guests are interviewed for each Democrat, and five conservatives for every liberal.

All the Fox news programs get daily marching orders from the top, specifying the day’s stories and slant .

Says Cronkite: “I’ve never heard of any network, or any other legitimate news organization doing that.”

And so George Bush is defended and John Kerry demeaned. Bad news from Iraq is minimized, while the patriotism of war opponents is questioned. Divisive social issues, from abortion to gay rights, are continually emphasized.

This conservative ideology is effectively being packaged in Fox’s “high-tech tabloid” style, where commentators and reporters are interchangeable, sarcasm and hyperbole commonplace, and fear mongering is the order of the day.

Ultimately, Fox doesn’t really do the news; they are state of the art mass propagandists.

A petition is being made to the Federal Trade Commission —to deny Fox permission to use the slogan “fair and balanced.” Click HERE if you are interested in signing in the petition

It’s a simple question of false advertising.

The Party Line

Recent excerpts from the daily instructions given to Fox News reporters and producers by senior management:

“The so-called 9/11 commission has been meeting. Do not turn this into Watergate.” (3/23/04)

“Today is likely to be the apex of the so-called 9/11 commission hearings. Remember that while there are obvious political implications for Bush, the commission is looking at eight years of the Clinton Administration versus eight months . . . for Bush.” (3/24/04)

“Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of U.S. lives [in Iraq] and asking out loud why are we there.”(4/4/04)

“Ribbons or medals? Which did John Kerry throw away after he returned from Vietnam? His perceived disrespect for the military could be more damaging to the candidate than questions about his actions in uniform.” (4/26/04)