Movie Review
Talking heads undermine "Outfoxed"

By Chris Kaltenbach
The Baltimore Sun

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"Outfoxed" hammers home the message that Fox News Channel's "Fair and Balanced" motto is a bunch of hooey, at best an example of wishful thinking, at worst — and this documentary definitely assumes the worst — a deliberate attempt to obfuscate the channel's decidedly pro-right, pro-Republican leanings.

The movie highlights Fox News' roster of firebrand conservatives, including Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, and claims the network pushes the GOP agenda in general, the Bush administration's in particular.

Movie review Showtimes *½ "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," a documentary directed by Robert Greenwald. 78 minutes. Not rated; suitable for mature audiences. Meridian.

What the film, subtitled "Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," doesn't do is offer much that will convert anyone. By relying so extensively on talking heads to point out what its makers see as the channel's lack of balance and the flaws in its collective news judgment, it forces viewers to accept other people's opinions rather than formulate their own.

"Outfoxed," directed by Robert Greenwald and partially financed by the liberal MoveOn.org, speaks most eloquently when it lets Fox News do the talking.

A segment involving Jeremy Glick, an antiwar protester and son of a victim of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, shows O'Reilly as an abrasive, narrow-minded bully (liberal lightning rod Al Franken offers context but doesn't really add much). Here, viewers are able to draw their own conclusions, something the film should let them do more often.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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