While the Fox News cable network has promoted itself as a "fair and balanced" news outlet -- so much so that they've even trademarked the phrase -- not everyone believes that they're living up to their slogan, and this activist documentary by filmmaker Robert Greenwald takes a close look at the political perspective of Fox's coverage. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism examines the right-wing slant of Fox News' reporting, as represented in stories the network chooses to cover and their
shoehorning of editorial opinion into stories, revealed in interviews with former Fox employees and several noted journalists (including Walter Cronkite) who discuss the pro-conservative, anti-Democratic views of the channel's management and how they're manifested in their programming. The film also puts talk show host Bill O'Reilly under the microscope and offers potent examples of his frequently abrasive interviewing style. Production of Outfoxed was supported in part by the leftist political action network Moveon.org. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Makes a crucial argument that has less to do with conservatives and liberals than with the coarsening of political discourse and the sinking standards of journalism and news -- subjects that go far beyond any particular news operation.
While Outfoxed surely will appeal more to liberals than to conservatives, its value to its self-selected audience lies not in upending anyone's expectations, but in taking the uninitiated down the Fox News rabbit hole.
This basic dichotomy of honest, urgent intentions and desultory, cheapskate expression marks OutFoxed from a fairly early moment and never really changes.
Fox News eventually comes off as a circle of buffoons yapping catch phrases. The movie hammers its points and, like a Bush campaign stop, there's no room for dissent.
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