I tried to watch Fox News this morning. I feel dirty.

One of the other contributors to Monitor Duty (which I’ve abandoned now because the guy who runs it is a bigot who’ll only accept information that reinforces his prejudices) told me that Fox was important because it “told the truth”. He should watch OutFoxed and get a clue.

There’s no narrative to the documentary, just a series of interviewees- many of them former Fox employees- describing the station’s philosophy and tactics. Their arguments are backed up by examples from Fox programming and copies of internal memos. In essence the channel exists to feed viewers opinion, rumour and gossip whilst pretending to be a real news organisation and claiming to be “Fair and Balanced” (evidence that some Americans do understand irony).

Highlights include the composer of the Fox News Alert music lamenting that the rousing flourish was supposed to announce major items- bombings and suchlike- but now heralds Bennifer news and other fluff pieces, and the revelation that high profile presenter Bill O’Reilly couldn’t be sued for libel because he’s such a pathological liar he can no longer conciously recognise that he’s not telling the truth.

Why is this so important to me? Because the most powerful country in the world can’t be truly described as a democracy if one of the largest news providers is a 24 hour shill for the Republican party. And because Murdoch owns so many papers and broadcasting outfits over here as well- try to imagine The Sun as the main influencer of opinion and be afraid.

(Don Henley, Dirty Laundry)

Technorati tag: DVD