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So, the last two DVDs I have gotten from Netflix were Control Room and Outfoxed. Documentaries on news networks, specifically FOX News and Al-Jazeera.
The first one we watched was Outfoxed. Though not as professional in the edits and cinematography, it was informative and provocative nonetheless. Showing what it means when a multi-billionaire owns so much of the American media, the film pushes the idea that FOX News is a very, very, very slanted news station. There were several interviews with folks who used to work there, their experiences, and their thoughts on this network. It is amazing how 'guided' the news networks are. I guess I didn't know this. And FOX News has led the way in this domestically... showing nothing that goes against American nationalism.
So that word, nationalism, is what leads me into the next program, Control Room. Better produced perhaps, this documentary covers the war in Iraq in its first year. It shows the different news programs showing very different things: Most domestic news programs showing victories in the war, most Arab programs showing defiance and death. Naturally, this incited a great deal of nationalism in the Arab states. They unified in hatred against the US. This is why so many people think of Al-Jazeera as an "anti-American" network, when in reality, I don't know if it's that simple.
I think I noted this in an earlier blog, but perhaps not... either way, I'm saying it again: In a recent report from the British FCC (or whatever it's called), FOX News was in more violations of their journalistic standards than Al-Jazeera. Wow. That is huge for those who think that FOX is the only truly "fair and balanced" news network.
For those of you daring, rent these films...
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