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Book Reviews
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Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
by Alexandra Kitty (Introduction by Robert Greenwald; based on the documentary)
(Disinformation; 2005; $12.95; 320pps)
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The Fox News Channel faced a public relations nightmare when Robert Greenwald’s compelling documentary Outfoxed was released to critical acclaim last year. Journalist Alexandra Kitty’s new book under the same title will ensure they wont be waking up from their bad dreams anytime soon.
The book picks up where Greenwald left off and takes us even deeper into the bizarre carnival that is the Fox News Channel.
She makes it known from the start that Fox News can’t be written off as easy as most of us would like it to be; it has clout in the media world and ratings that often exceed the other major cable news network, CNN. Fox has been very successful, and the scariest thing may be other news organizations emulating the Fox model.
Following an introduction from director Greenwald, Kitty dives straight into the muck, starting with a brief description of the climate of media consolidation and conservatism that made the Fox News Channel viable.
As explained quite well, Fox’s head honcho Rupert Murdoch has made a career out of creating news that is, well, not news but rather entertainment. His product has never been anything near the claimed “fair and balanced.” No hard hitting investigative journalism or thorough foreign coverage— no, that would be too expensive and too close to real news. Instead, Fox News is the closest thing to a state-run, press-release based, news outlet as the Bush administration could ever hope to see.
To understand Fox News, we have to understand who is calling the shots. Kitty does a fabulous job chronicling the Fox big shots, starting with Rupert Murdoch, followed by his behind-the-scenes thinker, Roger Ailes, and John Moody, who regularly sets the tone for the news with his infamous memos.
Nobody is spared the author’s scrutiny, from the mighty Bill O’Reilly and his cohort Sean Hannity to “the usual gang of idiots” like Ann Coulter and other commentators who regularly appear, to shove their opinions down the throats of the viewing public. Each is exposed and picked apart by the author’s extensive research.
Kitty did a lot of homework here; the amount of Fox News transcripts she must have gone through in the process is mind blowing. Interviews with former Fox employees and guests of the network give readers an insider’s view of what really goes on behind the scenes.
We learn how Fox picks guests to make their points, often an outspoken and well-known conservative goes up against a not so well-known and not so well-spoken liberal or, as O’Reilly calls them, “pinheads.” This helps reinforce the ongoing theme that anyone who opposes the Bush agenda is inherently weak and in many cases simply “nuts” (as are even those conservatives who don’t agree with the party line.)
Essentially, this book is a lengthy discourse of the author’s opinion regarding the Fox News Channel, which is well supported by lots of evidence, and for the most part her arguments are solid. She does, however, occasionally resort to using the same cheap shots we see on Fox News.
The book is comprehensive, and by the time you are halfway through, you will know more about the network than you probably ever wanted to. My major complaints are that the book tends to get repetitive in parts and the author uses a fair number of anonymous sources, which is sometimes necessary but tends to undermine, especially those books on journalism ethics.
If you only have a passing hatred for the Fox News Channel you probably would be better off just sticking to the film. This book was created for those who really want to venture deep into the twisted world of Fox News. If that is your desire, you will not be disappointed. After finishing the book you’ll catch yourself watching Fox News just to analyze (and wince at) it with your new insights.
Justin Popov
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