Boston.com / Film takes on right angle of Fox News Channel

Boston.com / A&E / Movies / Film takes on right angle of Fox News Channel: "Among media watchers, a debate has long raged about whether Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel is the 'fair and balanced' antidote to pervasive liberal media bias that it claims to be in its promotion or a megaphone for spreading conservative dogma.

In the film 'Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism,' which premiered last night in New York, liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald launches an all-out attack on the cable news channel's editorial integrity.

Greenwald said he decided to make "Outfoxed" after hearing from journalists about what he called "the Foxification Effect," which he described as "pseudo-patriotism and the dumbing-down and cheapening of news." The film lacks traditional journalistic balance, sometimes making no distinction between Fox staffers and outside pundits and sources. And it uses the cable channel as a poster child for the ills of corporate conglomeration when much of the same could be said about a number of mega media companies. Greenwald also did not contact Fox for comment, explaining that he was afraid the network might sue and adding, "They're on the air 24/7. Everyone knows what they think, feel, and say."

"Outfoxed" was a collaborative effort, funded in part by two liberal groups, MoveOn and the Center for American Progress. MoveOn and Common Cause also plan to help promote Greenwald's work by hosting a series of house parties at which the film will be shown. And the liberal media watchdog group FAIR -- which Greenwald commissioned to do a study of people interviewed on Fox News Channel's signature news show "Special Report With Brit Hume" -- concluded that conservative guests outnumbered liberals by more than five to one.

In the spirit of Greenwald's film, the headline on that study -- "Still Failing the `Fair & Balanced' Test," -- took dead aim at Fox News Channel's famous slogan and its claim of journalistic objectivity. "



By Mark Jurkowitz
Globe Staff