Outfoxed: How Murdoch's network gets so fair and balanced

Grok Headline matches for Outfoxed: How Murdoch's network gets so fair and balanced

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on
Journalism

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on
Journalism 07/11/2004 07:41 PM

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. An amazing documentary about Fox News and the danger of corporations controlling news. There is a QT and a Wind ows Media trailer online. There is a New York Times article about producer Robert Greenwald's unique method of distributing the documentary, selling the DVD for distribution through political action groups. Lessig has some interesting comments about this.

Fair and Balanced

Fair and Balanced 05/04/2004 09:16 PM
Read this Editorial titled Leader: iTunes ain't what it used to be from Silicon.com. If you're like me you'll see many glaring errors. Let's start...

Fair and Balanced?

Fair and Balanced? 10/28/2003 11:07 PM

Bill Gates recently got together with Steve Mills from IBM and demonstrated some web services interoperability between our two companies' products.  It has taken awhile to get to this point, from the initial hype to the point where some of these key scenarios work without smoke and mirrors; so it is nice to see a "status report" like this.

The first response I saw came in the form of this shrill attack piece run on CNET.  The author seems stuck in the last century, when people still bought the big lie about "write once run anywhere".  He fails to explain how "runs only on Java" is significantly different from "runs only on Windows", and completely misses the point that most enterprises have to support both types of systems (and many more) and therefore place a high priority on interop.

The attack piece brought back fond memories of the days when Bob Metcalfe and Jai Singh (now managing editor at CNET) were together at the helm of Infoworld.  Then I saw another analysis in CNET, covering the same interop event, but surprisingly balanced, at least in comparison to the first piece.  Finally, I found yet another analysis on CNET, again covering the same event; and this one is positively glowingly accurate!

What to make of it?  A single presentation by Bill Gates inspires three different pieces in CNET which cover the whole spectrum of opinion.  Can't complain about that.

~

Tragically, politics shuts down John Poindexter's data mining program.  It seems that only Safeway is allowed to collect that sort of information about U.S. citizens.

"Fair and balanced" polls

"Fair and balanced" polls 06/25/2004 01:34 PM

Fox New: Is "Fair and Balanced"
"ridiculous"?

Fox New: Is "Fair and Balanced"
"ridiculous"? 07/18/2004 06:39 PM
"Is 'Fair and Balanced' ridiculous?" So opened the FOX News Watch segment examining Robert Greenwald's film, OutFOXed. And astonishingly, the uncontradicted view of FOX News Watch was "yes"! As Neal Gabler put it, "To say that this network promotes the Republican view ... is like saying that the Pope is Catholic. It's self-evident ... pretty much undeniable." But, he asks, as if he hadn't actually seen the film, "So what?" So what? Well first, start with the question that opened the segment: Fox says it is "Fair and Balanced." If it is "self-evident" that it is not, then I guess we agree then that it is "ridiculous" to say that it is. And second, "obviously" media critics get this about Fox. Anyone who critically watches Fox gets this about Fox. But as one questioner at the San Francisco opening put it, for those who aren't media critics, and for those who don't actually watch Fox, just how "ridiculous" Fox's claim is is something significant. My bet is that a cross-section of FOX viewers would be surprised just how false Fox's claims actually are. The discussion opened with Jim Pinkerton of Newsday calling the film "dull and didactic." He then asserted that the film says that media networks are "either worse than the Mafia that ran Cuba in the 1950s or worse than the Soviet Union." When I heard him say that, I understood why he saw the film as "dull and didactic": if this is his view, he didn't really watch the film. The opening allusion to the Mafia comes from Robert McChesney, where he compares how the Mafia carved up Cuba with how the government carves up media ownership -- nothing to do with the media being "worse than the Mafia." The allusion to the Soviet Union, also McChesney's, again had nothing to do with Pinkerton's claim. McChesney's claim was simply that propaganda is most effective when the audience is unaware -- unlike in the Soviet Union. The other simple fabrication of Pinkerton was that the film comprised "two or three disgruntled employees." That's true if by "two or three" you mean seven (four listed here; three requested anonymity). But the more fundamental fabrication is the suggestion that the film's claims are based on nothing more than the word of "two or three disgruntled employees." The film has five independent sources for its "self-evident," as Grabler puts it, conclusion: (1) former Foxies, (2) Fox memos (unmentioned by anyone on the show), (3) independent studies of Fox viewers, (4) media commentators, and (5) clips from Fox shows. Cal Thomas -- who was one of the people in the film -- found the film flawed because it "ignored the many Democrats I've had on my show." Again, not true. The movie never asserts that there are no Democrats, or liberals on the show. It just asserts -- not denied by Thomas -- that the "balance" is "unbalanced." Indeed, in one of the best parts of the film, Greenwald reports a media group that studied months of Brit Hume's "Special Report" and found over 80% of the guests on that premier show were Republican -- and that most of the Democrats were centrists. Not balanced, and not a fair picture of the facts reported. Thomas goes on (with his wonderful announcer voice -- I love listening to him) to say something extraordinary however. Here's the quote:

"I think the reason that this network looks so Republican ... is by contrast on [sic] what the others do. If you went and did -- as the Media Research Center has done -- clips of what is said on the broadcast networks ... you would find an enormous tilt to the left. So by contrast it looks conservative."

I think we need more Media Research Centers on both the Left and Right and -- imagine this -- even without a political agenda! But I've not seen that they've put together "clips" as Greenwald has. And again, the film is comparing what Fox News actually is to what Fox News says it is. Jane Hall (Who? She's an assistant professor in the School of Communication at American University) complained the film was flawed because it left "out any evidence to the contrary." There were plenty of liberals on Fox she said -- for example, she said, she was a liberal. She also mentioned Jeff Cohen, cofounder of FAIR, was on Fox News Watch "for five years." Jeff Cohen? Actually, the movie not only doesn't ignore Jeff Cohen. He is one of the most critical interviewees. And again, the film doesn't say there are no liberals on Fox. The show instead reports Clara Frenk reporting that the "quality" of the liberals was far less than the quality of the conservatives -- in the sense that the liberals were either "unknown" or "weak." Hall also repeated the total non-thought that has been framed around this film -- that somehow the film is weak because it didn't get Roger Ailes to respond. The film in fact has Roger Ailes stating Fox News was to be a fair and balanced news program. It also has Roger Ailes stating Fox News failed its viewers on election night by allowing George Bush's cousin, on the basis of extremely weak data, to call the election for Bush. But even if it didn't twice include Roger Ailes in the film, the idea that before you release a film critical of someone you must include their comment is inane. I've had many critical reviews of my work published, some very intelligent, some others not. Never has anyone asked me for my comment on their review before they publish it. Indeed, to do so would be unethical. But my favorite part of the whole show is the contrast between segment one and segment two. The review of Outfoxed was in segment two. Segment one was about -- I swear -- "Media bias." For a full segment, Fox News Watch focused on a single statement by Newsweek's Evan Thomas. As Media Research Center quotes him,

The media want Kerry to win. They’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and optimistic, and this glow is going to be worth maybe 15 points."

This single quote by a single editor at a single magazine apparently proves, according to the show, that liberal "media bias" exists. Yet a film gathering (1) former Foxies, (2) Fox memos, (3) independent studies of Fox viewers, (4) media commentators, and (5) clips from Fox shows is, by contrast, "not that fairly put together," said Eric Burns, the show's host. I guess they would know. They're the trademark holder for the words "Fair and Balanced" (at least until the challenge to that trademark gets resolved).

Fair and balanced, at least 27 percent
of the time!

Fair and balanced, at least 27 percent
of the time! 03/14/2005 06:14 PM
A new study crowns Fox News Channel the king of biased reporting.

A Fair and Balanced Review of the Mac
Mini

A Fair and Balanced Review of the Mac
Mini 02/05/2005 09:16 PM

Mac Mini: The Emperor's New Computer: Attention: Before you rip the living hell out of this guy, please remember that he went to DeVry. And he has an MCSE.

The Mini boots up into a stripped-down operating system which Apple calls OS X, similar to the stripped-down WindowsCE OS found on many handhelds. The mini OS is going to be a significant hurdle for many buyers who are used to Windows or have favorite Windows software packages they need to use. Think of it more as a first computer for your daughter or niece than as a machine to get any serious work done and you’ll get the point of the Mini and its target market. It might also be the perfect computer for grandmothers or autistic children, for example.

Now your cell phone can be fair and
balanced, too

Now your cell phone can be fair and
balanced, too 07/23/2004 04:52 PM

balanced and fair: Geist on copyright
reform

balanced and fair: Geist on copyright
reform 06/16/2004 03:46 AM
Michael Geist's latest column in the Tornoto Star maps a sane process to realizing balance in IP. Help spread the sanity.

ABC's 60 Minutes is absolutely not fair
and balanced

ABC's 60 Minutes is absolutely not fair
and balanced 11/03/2003 09:33 PM
I spend a lot of Time watching Fox news and stay away from the heavily liberal biased ABC, NBC, CBS...

Making American Forces Radio fair and
balanced

Making American Forces Radio fair and
balanced 06/24/2004 08:07 AM
As Rush Limbaugh cries foul, the Senate moves toward loosening the right-wing propagandist's stranglehold on the military's airwaves.

Dingell Joins Republicans to Protest
CBS's Mini-Series "The Reagans": Demands
"Fair and Balanced" Portrayal of 40th
President

Dingell Joins Republicans to Protest
CBS's Mini-Series "The Reagans": Demands
"Fair and Balanced" Portrayal of 40th
President 11/02/2003 03:12 AM
Congressman John Dingell .. and much more .. his letter .. letter

house.gov/dingell/10-29-03.html
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Tabloid T&A and politics in Murdoch's
Sun newspaper

Tabloid T&A and politics in Murdoch's
Sun newspaper 08/29/2004 02:07 PM
Xeni Jardin: BoingBoing reader Rod says,

In the UK, Rupert Murdoch's "The Sun" tabloid -- famous for it's topless models on Page 3 -- has decided that merely displaying a couple of boobs to increase circulation is not enough. Now, accompanying the lady proudly displaying her knockers, is a small snippet of right-wing Murdoch-approved propoganda, purporting to be the opinion of the Page 3 Girl. Tim Ireland's gathered together some prime examples from the last 8 months.

Link

"Outfoxed"

"Outfoxed" 07/11/2004 09:57 PM

outfoxed

outfoxed 07/11/2004 01:48 PM
So the New York Times ran a magazine piece about Robert Greenwald's latest political documentary, OutFOXed. Stanford's CIS and the great folks at Fenwick & West have been advising Greenwald (pro bono) about how best to exercise his fair use rights in making this critique of FOX News. This clip gives you a sense of the issues we faced. And so you'll see how relieved I was to read Dianna Brandi's (VP for legal affairs at FOX) comment in the Washington Post: "People steal our footage all the time.... We generally sort of look the other way." I take it she's referring to the fair use by others of FOX's footage, and if so, then bravo FOX. Fair use, of course, is not stealing, even though lawyers who know better like to use that false description as often as they can. (But if she really means FOX footage is being stolen, then that's awful. Get better locks, Fox.) I actually knew nothing about FOX News before working on this film -- not much time for network news, and I had only ever heard Bill O'Reilly once, on Fresh Air. And while I came to the project with low expectations about any news network, I was still astonished. As you'll see when you buy the DVD or host a MoveOn.org house party, there's a lot to be amazed at. The most powerful is an amazingly unFAIR and unBALANCED clip with Jeremy Glick and Bill O'Reilly. Not unlike (but much worse than) the exchange Georgetown Professor David Cole described. (Washington Post). As the Times article describes, Greenwald's style for distributing documentaries may be the beginning of something new -- political criticism, using interviews and clips, making a strong political point, distributed through DVDs and political action groups. (See some other examples here). On what theory does he, and others, have the right to use such material without permission? On the free culture theory we call the First Amendment: Copyright law must, the Court told us in Eldred, embed "fair use"; "fair use" is informed by First Amendment values; the values of the First Amendment most relevant here are those expressed in New York Times v. Sullivan. As with news-gathering, critical political filmmaking needs a buffer zone of protection against the overreaching of the law. And if the potential of this medium -- now liberated by digital technology -- is to be realized, we need clear precedents that establish that critics have the freedom to criticize without having to hire a lawyer first. Watch the movie. Celebrate the freedom it represents. It is a particularly American freedom that we should celebrate and practice more often.

Just don't trust Rupert Murdoch's print
media who pulled a "Dewey Defeats
Truman" moment

Just don't trust Rupert Murdoch's print
media who pulled a "Dewey Defeats
Truman" moment 07/07/2004 09:40 AM
The Rupert Murdoch Accuracy in Reporting Award goes to .. New York Post Exclusive: Gephardt for Vice President!!! .. veep scoop flop .. The Smoking Gun .. oops .. real

thesmokinggun.com/archive/0706041post1.html
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"Just don't trust Rupert Murdoch's print
media who pulled a "Dewey Defeats
Truman" moment."

"Just don't trust Rupert Murdoch's print
media who pulled a "Dewey Defeats
Truman" moment." 07/06/2004 08:07 PM

Remix Outfoxed

Remix Outfoxed 09/15/2004 09:25 AM
Robert Greenwald has released the interviews from Outfoxed under a Creative Commons license, inviting others to remix the interviews to tell their own story about Fox. Robert had wanted to release the full film for remix, but fears about enabling the reuse of original Fox materials got that idea stopped. But you can download and rework the interviews from archive.org here. A bittorrent file is available here from Torrentocracy. See the blog entry there, and here.

Outfoxed: A Unique Sleeper Hit

Outfoxed: A Unique Sleeper Hit 07/23/2004 04:34 AM
On the eve of a contentious presidential election, large audiences are bypassing traditional media channels -- theatrical releases or TV broadcasts -- to see partisan films like Outfoxed. The DVD is a top seller on Amazon. By Louise Witt.

Outfoxed Offered for Remix

Outfoxed Offered for Remix 09/21/2004 06:37 AM
The maker of a documentary about Fox News offers raw footage of his film online for others to re-edit into new 'mixes.' With the spread of broadband and cheap filmmaking software, film may become remixers' favored medium. By Daniel Terdiman.

Outfoxed interviews available under CC
license via Bit Torrent

Outfoxed interviews available under CC
license via Bit Torrent 09/15/2004 03:51 AM

torrentocracy - blog

Outfoxed Torrent (torrentocracy exclusive)

In working with Lawrence Lessig, Robert Greenwald has agreed to release the interviews within Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism under a Creative Commons non-commercial license (press release). This means that among the rights now granted, interviews balancing out the fair journalism of Fox News can freely be used as anyone sees fit. To see the full movie, you can purchase the Outfoxed DVD or check it out in theaters.

Torrentocracy (along with archive.org) has exclusive initial access to distribute these interviews in their digital form due to the work undertaken to promote a TV-connected, public domain, internet based media distribution network. The torrent file to start your Outfoxed download can be found at http://www.torrentocracy.com/files/torrents/outfoxed_intervie ws.torrent. For more information on how to use bit torrent peer-to-peer filesharing to download this, go here. If you were a Torrentocracy user, you could already be downloading Outfoxed to your television.

Here's some serious substantial non-infringing use of P2P. I bought the DVD and watched Outfoxed. Definitely worth buying the DVD, but being able to download and use the interviews from the documentary is a great contribution to the commons. It will be interesting to see how people remix this stuff.

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Outfoxed interviews .torrent for
remixing

Outfoxed interviews .torrent for
remixing 09/15/2004 11:36 AM
Cory Doctorow: The interviews from the awesome anti-Fox documentary Outfoxed have been released under a Creative Commons license, for you to remix. Here's the .torrent: Torrent Link (via Lessig)

Roger Ailes complaing about Outfoxed

Roger Ailes complaing about Outfoxed 07/25/2004 07:38 PM

Poor poor FOX.

Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO, Fox News Network

Any news organization that doesn’t support our position on copyright is crazy. Next week, we could take a month’s worth of video from CNN International and do a documentary “Why does CNN hate America?” You wouldn’t even have to do the hatchet job Outfoxed was. You damn well could run it without editing. CNN International, Al-Jazeera and BBC are the same in how they report-mostly that America is wrong and bad. Everybody should stand up and say these people don’t have the right to take our product anymore. They don’t have a right to take a year’s worth of Dan Rather or Ted Koppel and edit it any way they want. It puts journalism at risk.

If someone thinks CNN or Al-Jazeera is doing a bad job, they should say it. Using clips of news programming to criticize a network is totally game I think. Although news has become entertainment, I don't think it should be controlled in the same way that creative content should be. I think that fair use should be applied liberally. The press and the news media should encourage critical debate. I think that a network that has a monopoly on millions of eyeballs should be fair game for documentaries like Outfoxed.

Via Lessig

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Outfoxed : Bill O'Reilly likes to say
"shut up"

Outfoxed : Bill O'Reilly likes to say
"shut up" 07/21/2004 06:21 PM

Mark @ Boing Boing

Bill O'Reilly enjoys ordering his guests and others to "shut up"

This video commercial starts out with a quote from talk show host Bill O'Reilly making the claim that he has told a guest to "shut up" only one time in six years. The rest of the commercial shows clips of Mr. O'Reilly telling people to shut up. Link [Quicktime] (Via Horkulated)

Thi s looks like a partial trailer or something for OutFoxed that Larry Lessig's been blogging about. I just ordered it on Amazon. Jon Lebkowsky talks about his experience watching it with friends.

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"Happy Talk From Hell" -- Salon reviews
Outfoxed

"Happy Talk From Hell" -- Salon reviews
Outfoxed 07/13/2004 03:37 PM
Salon has a review of the new documentary about Fox news, called Outfoxed, which went on sale today and is now the 11th best-selling DVD on Amazon.

Take the network's "some people say" mantra (as used in my first paragraph, above). I had watched plenty of Fox News without ever noticing this -- it's a way of introducing commentary, and specifically the reflexive right-wing views of the presumptive Fox core audience, into what is supposed to be news coverage, while appearing to not quite endorse it. "Some people say that criticizing the war at a time like this is letting down our men and women in uniform," or "Some people say Richard Clarke is a political operative who's trying to sell books." (Or, yes, "Some people are saying that John Kerry looks French!" -- uttered with a peculiar mixture of consternation and delight. Gosh, what a weird idea! But now that you mention it ...!)

Also, here's Fox's scary rebuttal to the documentary. L ink

Fox News uncovers vast left-wing
conspiracy in "Outfoxed"

Fox News uncovers vast left-wing
conspiracy in "Outfoxed" 07/13/2004 10:37 AM

The Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard 06/17/2005 03:20 PM
CIO Jun 11 2005 7:42AM GMT

Balanced Passion

Balanced Passion 01/16/2004 11:33 AM
What is more important in business today: Spirit or sobriety?

The Truth About FOX News is That It is
Not the Truth: It is Murdoch's Right
Wing Shill Machine for Bush 11/1

The Truth About FOX News is That It is
Not the Truth: It is Murdoch's Right
Wing Shill Machine for Bush 11/1 11/03/2003 06:39 AM
Miles from 'fair and balanced' .. Media Matters column .. fair

latimes.com/features/lifestyle/cl-et-rutten1nov01,1,234902.colu mn?coll=la-headlines-lifestyle
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Fox News hits back at "Outfoxed" video
and New York Times article

Fox News hits back at "Outfoxed" video
and New York Times article 07/13/2004 11:53 PM
Fox Fights Back Against N.Y. Times Over Film Story .. scary rebuttal

editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_c ontent_id=1000575114
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Efficiency must be balanced with
security

Efficiency must be balanced with
security 05/27/2004 09:35 PM
Computer Weekly May 28 2004 1:07AM GMT

Bush gets checked and balanced

Bush gets checked and balanced 06/29/2004 08:43 AM
The Supreme Court rules against indefinitely locking up detainees -- and deals a mortal blow to the president's vision of his own limitless power.

Super Science Fair Projects: Complete
Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics
and Experiments

Super Science Fair Projects: Complete
Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics
and Experiments 05/24/2004 06:24 AM
Super Science Fair Projects: Complete Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics and Experiments
http://www.super-sc ience-fair-projects.com/

Today your teacher announced that your school is going to have a science fair and students are responsible for exhibiting their projects. What do you feel? Enthusiastic? Despondent? Dreadful? Fearful? Excited?" This statement opens the Super Science Fair Projects site. Actually, whether student or parent, science fair projects, while great ways to get students actively involved in learning the scientific method and problem solving, can be tough assignments. This site may help you with one of the hardest parts: coming up with an idea. The site does a great job of walking the visitor through the steps needed to plan and implement a project, from Choosing a Topic, the Scientific Method, and writing the Project Report. There are even tips on displaying your project, rehearsing, winning over judges, and what to expect the day of the fair. This is definitely a great tool to tap into when planning a science fair project.[From The NSDL Scout Report for Math, Engineering, and Technology, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003. http://scout.wisc.edu/]

Precariously balanced atop Öolong

Precariously balanced atop Öolong 03/14/2005 06:29 PM
Peop le of the pancake: "I see within us all (myself included) the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the pressure of information overload and the technology of the 'instantly available'. A new self that needs to contain less and less of an inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance—as we all become 'pancake people'—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button." Writing on the Edge, Richard Foreman and George Dyson speculate on a 'thin-client' view of the self where most cultural processing occurs not only somewhere else, but by something else! [reality checks provided by Kevin Kelly, Jaron Lanier, Steven Johnson, Marvin Minsky and Douglas Rushkoff, among others :]

Linus swiped Linux from SCO, says
balanced study

Linus swiped Linux from SCO, says
balanced study 05/17/2004 03:07 PM

Poll: Most People Prefer Balanced Budget
(AP)

Poll: Most People Prefer Balanced Budget
(AP) 04/13/2004 02:27 PM
AP - About six in ten, 61 percent, chose balancing the budget while 36 percent chose tax cuts when they were asked which was more important, according to a poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos Public Affairs.

How to Perform a Balanced Evaluation or
Comparison Using a Matrix

How to Perform a Balanced Evaluation or
Comparison Using a Matrix 01/09/2004 09:52 PM

Poll: Balanced Budget Beats Tax Cuts
(AP)

Poll: Balanced Budget Beats Tax Cuts
(AP) 04/13/2004 07:36 PM
AP - About six in 10, 61 percent, chose balancing the budget while 36 percent chose tax cuts when they were asked which was more important, according to a poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos Public Affairs.

Internet can be a means to finding
balanced life

Internet can be a means to finding
balanced life 04/17/2004 03:39 AM
Seattle Times Apr 17 2004 8:22AM GMT
Grok Description matches for Outfoxed: How Murdoch's network gets so fair and balanced
GrokA matches for Outfoxed: How Murdoch's network gets so fair and balanced

Outfoxed: How Murdoch's network gets so fair and balanced

The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry: