Hacker Cinema
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
2004 · Film · documentary · 74 min
Directed by Robert Greenwald
This film examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news, and provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangerous impact on society when a broad swath of media is controlled by one person. Media experts, including 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."
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"FCC starts process that could loosen TV station ownership rules" (2025) https://youtube.com/watch?v=hvdXMx2cQfE :
> Currently no single company can own stations reaching more than 39% of TV households in America. Nexstar's proposed acquisition of Tegna would bring that combined company's reach to about 80%; double the current limit. The FCC is also expected to review a rule - tossed out by a federal appeals court in July - that a single company cannot own 2 of the top 4 TV stations in a market. In Denver, Nexstar already owns Fox 31 and Channel 2. The proposed merger would add 9 News and Channel 20. The CEO of Nexstar has said that multiple stations in the same city will be combined.
Who remembers why we are opposed to corporate consolidation in the media, given "fake news" and "media literacy" in their - the only - two corners?
From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35676503 re: labels for state-funded and (S)PAC-funded media (and now sermons, too, of late, btw):
> Media literacy > Media literacy education: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy#Media_literacy_education
Though these are or would be Nexstar FOX stations, this film from the tumultuous and still unpaid-for wars of the 2000s is relevant again today:
"Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" (2004) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outfoxed :
> "Fair and Balanced"
The internet says Trump hired Fox News execs Aisles (former RNC chair, former CEO of Fox News) in 2016, and Shine (O'Reilly) in 2018. 21st Century Fox sold to Disney in 2019. Fox News is now a wholly separate company from 21st Century Fox and Fox Theatres.
Now that the federal government has de-funded The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and thereby PBS and NPR, do they still have to carry the "state-sponsored media label"?
Oligarchy > United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy#United_states
My wife and I were able to help her father escape the Fox bubble. The film “Outfoxed” was useful in our case, FWIW.
Not directly related to the speed of news but interesting reading is "Don't believe it! How lies become news" by Kitty Alexander, who was also involved with the fantastic documentary "Outfoxed".
It's my impression that people lump news and doctors into the same bunch: they are somehow infallible. Somehow they are always doing the right thing.
Well "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scrubs" pretty much ruined the medical industry for me :) I guess maybe Season 5 of "The Wire" does the same for mass media?