Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Robert Greenwald

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Documentary on reported Conservative bias of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel (FNC), which promotes itself as "Fair and Balanced". Material includes interviews with former FNC employees and the inter-office memos they provided. |

Plot Keywords:

Media Literacy | Secretary Of State | Dick Cheney | TV Network | Expose

Cast

Roger Ailes	...	Himself (archive footage)
Eric Alterman	...	Interviewee
Christiane Amanpour	...	Herself (archive footage)
Harry Belafonte	...	Himself (archive footage)
David Brock	...	Interviewee
Tom Brokaw	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Carl Cameron	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Carlin	...	Himself (archive footage)
Neil Cavuto	...	Himself (archive footage)
Douglas Cheek	...	Narrator
Dick Cheney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Richard Clarke	...	Himself
Jeff Cohen	...	Interviewee
Alan Colmes	...	Himself (archive footage)
Walter Cronkite	...	Himself
Laurie Dhue	...	Herself (archive footage)
Steve Doocy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Susan Estrich	...	Herself (archive footage)
Al Franken	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Newt Gingrich	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jeremy Glick	...	Himself (also archive footage)
Sean Hannity	...	Himself (archive footage)
Brit Hume	...	Himself (archive footage)
Molly Ivins	...	Herself (archive footage)
Peter Jennings	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ted Kennedy	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Kerry	...	Himself (archive footage)
Brian Kilmeade	...	Himself (archive footage)
Mike Malloy	...	Himself (archive footage)
Rupert Murdoch	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill O'Reilly	...	Himself (archive footage)
Dan Rather	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Condoleezza Rice	...	Herself (archive footage)
Geraldo Rivera	...	Himself (archive footage)
Martin Sheen	...	Himself (archive footage)
Shepard Smith	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jon Stewart	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cal Thomas	...	Himself (archive footage)
Greta Van Susteren	...	Herself (archive footage)
Linda Vester	...	Herself (archive footage)
Av Westin	...	Himself

Directed by
Robert Greenwald

Produced by
Laurel Busby	....	co-producer
Jim Gilliam	....	co-producer
Robert Greenwald	....	producer
Kathryn McArdle	....	co-producer
Devin Smith	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Nicholas O'Toole

Cinematography by
James Curry
Will Miller
Glen Pearcy
Richard Ray Perez		(as Richard Pérez)
Luke Riffle
Bob Sullivan

Film Editing by
Jane Pia Abramowitz
Jovan Bell
Douglas Cheek
Chris M. Gordon
Erin Kelly
Monica Kowalski
Hannah Williams

Production Management
Jason Ajax Mercer	....	post-production manager

Art Department
Ernesto Matamoros	....	graphic designer

Sound Department
David Hutten	....	sound
Mark Jasper	....	sound editor
Eugene E. Thompson	....	sound mixer
Chris Winston	....	post-production sound mixer

Music Department
Assen Stoyanov	....	music score mixer

Other crew
Nancy Anton	....	researcher
Christina Bradley	....	researcher
Ellen Brodsky	....	researcher
Judy Daubenmier	....	researcher
Chris Herrmann	....	researcher
Melanie Killinger-Vowell	....	researcher
Eleanor White	....	researcher
Deborah Yesner	....	researcher

Production Companies

• Carolina Productions
• MoveOn.Org

Distributors

• Disinformation Company (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• MK2 Diffusion (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• MoveOn.org (USA) (theatrical)
• Films Transit International (2004) (non-USA) (all media)
• ITV4 (2005) (UK) (TV)
• MoveOn.org (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Music Entertainment (2009) (Japan) (TV)

Runtime:

75 min | USA:78 min | Argentina:88 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Unrated | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Carolina Productions

Trivia:

The movie's DVD release preceded its theatrical release. The film was initially distributed via internet DVD sales, but strong viewer demand led to a post-DVD theatrical release.

Quotes:

Bill O'Reilly: Shut up!

Movie Connections:

References Network (1976)

Soundtrack:

These Days

Caution: this review is written by an Australian who's never actually watched Fox News. But, hey, wasn't the big R Australian once?

When I was at university, it was the left-wing politicians who spun the best propaganda. They wore cooler clothes, had better slogans and made up bright snappy posters satirising 1950s domesticity (in itself a form of propaganda). But if 1967 film The Battle of Algiers is a training manual for terrorists, consider Outfoxed, the new documentary about Rupert Murdoch's Fox News cable channel, a how to for right-wing misinformation.

Rupert Murdoch is up-front about his goals for Fox – America's most watched cable network – to promote conservative values. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism demonstrates just how fundamentally this distorts the truth, misinforms the public and compromises the integrity of any journalist employed by Fox news. Government surveys show that of all news consumers, Fox viewers had the most inaccurate perceptions of the truth – for example one-third of them believed that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.

Fox's slogans include "Fox News – Fair and Balanced" and "We Report – You Decide". Does the second one remind you of anything? That's right, the ABC's CNNNN, who more accurately transformed the slogan into "We Report – You Believe". I never realised that CNNNN's Firth Factor had a real-life counterpart, Fox's The O'Reilly Factor, and was nauseated by Bill O'Reilly. He's the most biased and aggressive shock jock I could envisage, who disrespects the truth and annihilates any guest who dares disagree with him. In comparison, Jeff Kennett in his heyday was as innocuous as a little fluffy kitten. In the US, most Fox viewers wouldn't even understand that CNNNN is a comedy.

Outfoxed is an argumentative essay rather than an impartial examination of the truth, but considering the propaganda machine it's taking on, how could it be otherwise? What's so impressive about this film is its pace. In a rapid-fire 77 minutes, filmmaker Robert Greenwald interviews dozens of former Fox employees, media analysts, and intersperses it with Fox footage to prove his points. Not only is the film jaw dropping, but it's as entertaining and shocking as anything the Fox behemoth could pump out. It made me cry. *****/***** stars.