Last week I watched a documentary about the Fox News Channel. Now as you may know, I believe all major corporate media to be propaganda for the wealthy, controlling members of society. However, I generally view this to be a result of market forces, rather than some overt political conspiracy. I thought that Fox News, or Faux News as it's often called, was simply a very conservative, right-wing news group because there was a lot of money to be made by being biased, but that the people who ran Fox News had no specific political goal in mind. This documentary changed that. It made a very good case for Fox News, having as its main goal, the misrepresentation and distortion of the news. It featured interviews with former Fox producers and anchors who speak about the intense pressure on them for supporting the Republicans and making the Democrats look as bad as possible. Hell, Roger Ailes, a former media advisor to Nixon, Reagan, and George Bush, Sr. is the CEO and President of Fox News. The documentary also featured internal memos that were obtained from Fox News which show a concious effort by Fox to make its shows and its affiliates give the same spin on a particular issue. Now maybe this wouldn't be a big deal if it were just Fox, but Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, owns A LOT of media around the world. Hundreds of newspapers and magazines, and TV news that reaches billions of people worldwide. And he is a VERY big conservative. In 1988, he made the remark on Pat Robertson's bid for president that Pat Robertson was "right on all the issues." You can watch a trailer of the video here but it really doesn't do the film justice.
The media, being the main way that most people learn about what goes on in the world, is being centralized and controlled by corporations that guess what, have very conservative views. Fiscally of course they're conservative, they want huge profits. But they will also cater to conservative religious views, since religion keeps the people in check and makes it trivial to control them. Without independent media or at least the understanding that the mass media is worthelss, we will never be free from religious bullshit and we will never have a true democracy where ideas are freely debated. I encourage you to buy the DVD here. It's $9.95, only twice the price of what you would pay if you rented it (assuming that option is available in your area).
Also, unrelated to the DVD, the House passed an energy bill recently 212-210 which is essentially a giveaway to energy companies. It was intended to be a 5-minute vote, but when the Republicans saw that they were losing 209-212 they held out for almost an hour as Tom Delay and others got a few more Republicans in the boat. The Democrats spoke out against the corruption and shouted "shame shame" as the vote finally ended. You can watch this video here.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I tried to watch Fox a couple of times for "educational" purposes and I just can't handle watching the type of ignorant nonsense and hatred that they spout at their viewers. The fact that someone is showing this on TV is not that scary. What scary is that so many people watch it and eat it up. They love it and they think that this is "fair and balanced" picture of how the world really is...
Wow Delta, good review.
I saw this awhile back. I mean, I didnt SEE the movie but saw it being advertized. Now you make me wann go buy it! :)
As in any good witch hunt, the accusation stands as an indictment and a conviction. "Liberal bias" is hurled at anyone that won't support the neo-fascist agenda. Once the accusation is made, any defense or counter-accusations appear petty and weak. This is because, by making the accusation, the conservative perpetrators of this agenda take on the role of the injured party, not the ones actually plunging the dagger of false accusation. They are nothing if not consummate sneaks, a trade they learned in the school yard, and refined over the years. They will do or say anything because they really believe that the end justifies the means.
I purchased this DVD thru your link. I'm still waiting for my copy in the mail.
Yours is the first review of this documentary I've seen. I'll take your word for it that it is worth owning. Plus it's only ten bucks. I just figured it would be short and cheesey, so I initially hesitated to buy when it first came out.
Haha! Before anyone gets any funny ideas, my alter ego was supposed to say "boywonder", not boywor. It was cut off.
Glad to hear boywonder, let me know what you think of it =)
I watched OUTFOXED last night. I can't say that I learned much new. I didn't know the exact figures of what Murdock owns and the extent to which other networks have fallen in line to keep competing with FOX.
I mainly just wonder how any individual of even modest intelligence can fall for much of the agenda that FOX pushes every minute of every day. I know I'm more skeptical than most, but even watching small tidbits of their programming any time of the day or night gives me more than enough reason to believe they are not only biased, but blatantly so.
It is not a secret that FOX consistantly bashes Democrats and any perceived slant toward the left (or anyone not chiming in with their opinions) while giving free passes to Bush and any GOP pundits.
O'Reilly is the biggest problem I have with FOX. He represents every problem that they have. No journalist with any integrity whatsoever would shout down a 'guest' or consistantly tell them to "shut up" and then lie about telling them to "shut up". He is a pathological lier who is not called out for his pathos. He is encouraged and emboldened by a network when he would be hardpressed to even retain a job elswhere.
He is a bully that deserves to be beaten for the stupid, irrational, and hateful messages he spews on a daily basis.
Post a Comment