Robert Greenwald's latest documentary has turned into a phenomenon. Without a distributor, the filmmakers relied on the Internet and word of mouth to generate interest, and the results have been stunning. Over three thousand "house parties" helped to launch the film to the top of Amazon's bestselling DVD list--beating out the original Star Wars trilogy.
Unlike the target of its scorn, "Outfoxed" does not attempt to hide its bias. From the beginning, it is clear about the danger it sees in Rupert Murdoch's "fair and balanced" cable channel. With talking heads, disguised former employees, and selected broadcast footage, the film exposes Fox's procedures for streamlining opinion across the station's shows: daily memos dictate ways to approach certain news, following Republican and White House talking points verbatim. Analysis and examples illustrate the techniques Fox uses to give a slanted view of events, for instance the way the phrase "some say" is used to allow anchors to slip their own opinion into an otherwise "objective" newscast.
The problem with "Outfoxed" is that, unlike "Fahrenheit 9/11," it is unlikely to change any minds. While the wide reach of Michael Moore's film guarantees that undecided voters are getting information that's not commonly reported in the American mainstream media, "Outfoxed" tells us what we already know: Fox, far from being "fair and balanced," gives a hard-right view of daily events. The film does a good job at illustrating this fact, but is it really news to anybody?
Many will pish-posh the film's concerns as a simple business matter: Fox is successful, so surely, they must be doing something right? If you don't like it, why not simply switch channels? And indeed, "Outfoxed" fails to make a coherent argument as to why, exactly, Fox is problematic. The pieces are here: a democracy relies on solid, trustworthy information to function, and a TV station that misrepresents spin as news is abusing the public trust. There is also a brief mention of the "Fox Effect," which has been pushing other networks further to the right in an effort to gain viewers. There is a strong argument to be made against a network that has given up any pretense of ethical reporting and journalistic integrity, but "Outfoxed" never quite arrives at a watertight conclusion.
