Monday, February 1, 2010

The latest..Virtual Communities...Fox News Documentary


Last week we discussed "What is truth?" We debated whether or not virtual communities can exist. I took a stance that said they can exist, but they are lesser in value than our real-life communities and are often an extension of these communities.

Moving into this week I will prepare to write another essay and post it on here about the topics that have been discussed these past two weeks.

I just began the work for this week and watched a required movie called "Outfoxed" about Fox News. It was an eye opener. I highly recommend EVERYONE watch it.

The documentary explores just how off Fox's slogan, "Fair and Balanced", really is.

As one of the commentators on the documentary explained, Fox’s slogan is one of the greatest marketing slogans of our time. They put on a façade that they are ideal journalists reporting fair, balanced, and investigative stories, allowing their viewers to decide their own stance on the issues.

Unfortunately, Fox does everything but report fair and balanced news (if you want to call their stories news). Growing up, my family never watched Fox news, and I was taught that their news was unreliable, but I was still shocked watching “Outfoxed”. More than shocked, I was outraged because the media has an obligation to the public to report the truth as much as they can. Opinions are subjective, and as the documentary highlighted, Fox blurs news with opinions making it hard for uninformed viewers to decipher the facts.
One of the commentators also states that his problem with Fox is not that they are purely and obviously right wing, but that they market themselves are being “fair and balanced” tricking their viewers.

What upsets me the most is that there are people who grow up in rural areas in red states who will never be fully informed or educated about our government because they watch Fox and listen to people like Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.

I’m not saying it is wrong for commentators to be biased and offer right wing opinions. I’m saying it’s wrong to report opinions as news and trick and deceive your viewers. Even though I personally do not agree with them, every American has a right to their own political opinion. However, it seems that Fox does not value this right.

On a side note, I watched the documentary twice just to make sure I didn’t miss or misunderstand anything. My stomach churned both times I watched it, especially when Bill O’Reilly came on. If I may offer an opinion of my own, Bill O’Reilly is the farthest thing from a good journalist, and an example of what a reporter ought not to be.

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