"Outfoxed" not a sly commentary

Though mildly amusing - and strangely disturbing at times - "Outfoxed" fails to tell us anything significant that we didn't already know. Fox News makes a habit of blurring the line between news and opinion? No crap.

The documentary presents a pretty complete look at the Jeremy Glick fiasco that took place during an episode of The O'Reilly Factor. Bill O'Reilly, the program's host, "interviewed" Glick, punishing him for signing an antiwar plead though Glick's father had been killed in the 9/11 attacks. Following the interview, Fox News spin-doctors polluted and twisted Glick's message until 11 months later, O'Reilly was claiming that Glick had accused Bush of knowing about 9/11 and murdering his father- a ridiculous claim. "Outfoxed" makes a handful of claims, however, that ranks right up there with "alien abduction" and the "Tupac is still alive” theories. In the first few minutes of the film, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other high-ranking government officials are shown as being part of a secret right-wing society that views military might as the solution to most foreign relation conflicts. The most absurd of all the claims made by "Outfoxed" regretfully is the core theme of the entire documentary- that Americans buy into the "Fair and Balanced" trademark of the news network. Through each of its segments, "Outfoxed" insinuates that Fox News is "subtly" brainwashing the American public.
"Outfoxed" relies on the same cheesy gimmicks that Fox News does to push its propaganda. Though it was out of the ordinary to read some of John Moody's cryptic memos to the Fox staff, they were read aloud to us in a sinister voice worthy of a Scooby-Doo villain. In the end, the movie amounts to nothing more than an amateur, low budget project that is about as "fair and balanced" as the Fox News Network it critiques.



"Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." Movies. 5 May 2008 http://listing-index.ebay.com/movies/Outfoxed.html.

Hand, Holly. "Outfoxed: Fox News 'Reports,' We Deride." The Raw Story. 5 May 2008 http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/hand/outfoxed_moveon_fox_review_729.htm.