Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism FULL MOVIE - Documentary

in the great 1974 film The Godfather II

there's a scene about halfway through

where Hyman Roth and Michael Corleone

and all the American gangsters are

gathering a Patty on Havana and it's

Hyman Ross 67th birthday and he's giving

a slice of the cake each game she's got

Louie from Chicago you run the

Copacabana Frankie you get the

prostitutes he's dividing up the island

among all American gangsters and they're

appropriately enough the birthday cake

has the outline of cube on us is giving

him a slice of Cuba and while Hyman Roth

is doing this he says isn't it great to

be in a country with the government that

respects private Enterprise and that's

how media policies have been done in the

United States for the past 50 years so

it's increasingly in the last 20 years

extraordinarily powerful lobbyists duke

it out behind closed doors for the

biggest slice of the cake the public

knows nothing about it it doesn't

participate and that's the problem we

face

foreign

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media is the nervous system of a

democracy if it's not functioning well

the Democracy can't function we're

heading toward an election where

most people are never going to be in a

room with Carrie or bush what they learn

about the candidates will be what the

media shows them or tells them decides

not to show not to tell

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people are faced with critical choices

about the future of the country when

they go into the voting booth and I go

in and I have been through the course of

a campaign cycle subject to false

distorted caricaturing and I may not

even know where it's coming from because

often there's an echo effect off places

like cable and like radio and those

wrong pieces of information are repeated

and repeated by the time it reaches me I

don't even know what the source was this

is the environment we're living in and

it's it's it's really it's it's

fundamentally undermining democracy

which is based on knowing some good and

solid information so I can make an

informed choice

foreign

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when you see the properties Rupert

Murdoch owns around the world the strong

conservative point of view that those

properties often reflect it's different

than ABC or CBS or NBC sure they reflect

a point of view but not nearly as strong

and not nearly as consistently from one

ideological perspective

Murdoch actually bought the station in

1985 and actually left us alone for at

least the first three years of his

ownership partly because we were so

successful and prosperous that there was

no reason to monkey with us at wttg our

success

insulated us to a certain degree and it

was kind of like being in an office and

seeing people come down with the flu

around you we knew the flu eventually

might reach us but we were hoping if we

took enough vitamins that we'd never

catch the flu it was clear during those

years

that Murdoch who had absolutely adored

Ronald Reagan adored him had a lot of

admiration for the group of Republicans

that controlled Congress and certainly

on Capitol Hill we received an order

from one of Murdoch's apparatchics if

you will that we should cut away from

our newscast and start carrying a

fawning tribute to Ronald Reagan that

was airing at the Republican convention

we were stunned because up until that

point we were allowed to do legitimate

news and suddenly we were ordered from

the top to carry propaganda carry

Republican right-wing propaganda there

was a cultural

underpinning to what Murdoch wanted race

issues AIDS I constantly remember

complaints that there was too much being

done on AIDS he also couldn't stand the

Kennedys Ted Kennedy was a long time

opponent of Rupert Murdoch uh and and

one a celebrated occasion we were

ordered to run a long uncut piece from a

current affair uh that was rehashing the

whole matter of Chappaquiddick it had

zero news value we were told you had to

run this thing uncut you could not even

edit it down and just run a snippet of

it I think they evolved in later years

especially after Roger Ailes took over

and and really got the Fox News Channel

up and running into a far more

sophisticated kind of operation what we

saw in my era was was really the the

birth of this sort of thing and the

roots of what came later I just have to

say it had a light as I am that we've

now reached this moment when we can

firmly announce the starting of a Fox

News Channel and a much greater effort

on the build up of Fox News in every

area we'd like to be Premier journalists

we'd like to restore objectivity where

we find it lacking and and certainly uh

there there could be that interpretation

because of my background but I left

politics a number of years ago and have

run a news Organization for the last two

years so we just expect to do fine

balanced journalism

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when you lose and I'm dead

I was about to play for three years I

worked in 10 years on air or behind the

camera

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I think I'd rather keep myself anonymous

yeah I've heard directly from folks both

as correspondents and as Bookers who've

expressed very great reservations almost

uh as if they're being monitored by a

stalinous system afraid to be seen

talking to the wrong person or having

the wrong kind of Email exchange

foreign

you're either one of us or one of them

and in leaving Fox News for example uh

there were a number of people at the

organization to head of the organization

tried to ruin my career simply because I

was leaving because I didn't leave on

their terms because I refused to sign a

confidentiality agreement that was

another reason for them to try to keep

me from getting my next job

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very much an environment of fear it was

made very clear to us that our

activities were being monitored and if

someone wasn't watching it live they

were at least recording it and they

would review it after the fact to see

what we did we weren't necessarily as it

was told to us a news Gathering

organization so much as we were a

proponent of a point of view fox has

already been successful in sort of

branding the uh some of you can't be

trusted and as a result

I've already sorted my thin ice

regarding my current employer

foreign

I'd been warned by people there were a

number of people who pulled me inside

and said look you know

I don't know I mean I know that you want

to work and I know that you need a job

but you might want to think twice about

taking this job because really it is a

very conservative news network now that

I've learned comedy writing at Fox News

Channel I guess I should be doing

stand-up in the clubs if you don't go

along with the mindset of the hierarchy

of New York if you challenge them on

their attitudes about things

your history

I suspect your research has discovered

the memoranda that were written by John

Moody and by Roger uh in terms of

setting the tone for the day uh the

message of the day is a very political

device

let's spend a good deal of time on the

battle over judicial nominations which

the president will address this morning

nominees who both sides admit are

qualified are being held up because of

their possible not demonstrated views on

one issue abortion this should be a

trademark issue for fnc today and in the

days to come

there was nothing covert about the way

the managing editors in New York or

Washington operated they made it

perfectly clear what they expected from

us

the so-called 911 Commission has already

been meeting this is not what did he

know and when did he know it stuff do

not turn this into Watergate

every morning there was a detailed list

of subjects to talk about not talk about

Gary's speech on the economy at

Georgetown is likely to move on to the

topic of Iraq we should take the

beginning of the Kerry speech and see if

other news at the time is more

compelling it is not required to take it

start to finish

they were just actually issuing edicts

to the reporters to control what they

could say and how they could say it

let's refer to the U.S Marines we see in

the foreground as Sharpshooters not

snipers which carries a negative

connotation

when headquarters sent the memo every

morning and said we want to touch on the

following issues we want to cover the

following stories we want to do them in

this particular way our job and our

objective then was to execute the plan

the pictures from Abu gray prison are

disturbing today we have a picture aired

on Al Arabia of an American hostage

being held with a scarf over his eyes

clearly against his will who's outraged

on his behalf

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the real revolutionary breakthrough of

fox has been its eliminated journalism I

mean that's the thing to understand what

Fox News channel has done is it's

stripped out any notion of Journalism as

we've traditionally understood it from

its product there is no journalism at

the Fox News Channel

Chad I want to test if you're an honest

individual

stuff here but my religion didn't teach

me that but thank you very much for

being here it's a right-wing Network and

you don't want to hear this stuff you

want to do it not about the kids it's

about you Jimmy okay thank you James

yes thank you Jamie thank you

inappropriate taking a cheap little

pathetic shot I am telling you that

that's you're taking cheap little

pathetic shots tell you what the truth

is no you're misrepresenting his record

I'm telling the truth sir that's the

truth about his record I understand what

your positions is not correct I'd like

to hear one word

get on regular radios Paula Evans

Winston-Salem North Carolina Bill if you

are so concerned about public figures

being bad role models for children

please stop rudely interrupting your

guests and telling them to shut up well

the shut up line has happened only once

in six years Miss Evans well you know I

think that asking a student to stay in

the closet in order to go shut up about

African-Americans

shut up his respect why did you have to

tell him you were an atheist if you

didn't have any trouble reading the

Oaths why didn't you just shut up what

Jimmy Carter should do is privately give

Mr Bush's opinion and shut up publicly

that would be best for the country and

it is our duty as loyal Americans to

shut up once the fighting begins once

the war against Saddam begins we expect

every American to support our military

and if they can't do that to shut up all

he's got in six and a half years is that

I misspoke that I labeled a poke award

at Peabody he writes in his book he

tries to make me out no no no no no no

no shut up you had your 35 minutes shut

up

the techniques of pull odd polling and

odd Graphics of Democrats and weird

banners in the lower third of your

screen these are all pretty

sophisticated techniques and they work

in collaboration with the most genius

marketing slogan in history which is

fair and balanced

so if you're the graphics department and

you can put up a liberal flip-flopper as

the Chiron hey that's great because the

next time the graphics department has a

discussion with management management

say yeah you guys have been doing a

great job Graphics are always moving in

the background they've sort of pioneered

the use of the American flag as as an

icon of your news broadcast so there's a

lot of stuff that people come up with on

their own which in other news

organizations you'd never think of

coming up with some of the stuff much

less even putting it on the air but at

Fox News there's sort of the you're

rewarded for pushing the envelope and if

you're pushing the envelope against the

Democrat and in support of Republican

that's great the problem comes if you

try to push the envelope or God forbid

should put in some sort of similar sort

of style or approach to Republican then

you get yourself in trouble probably

19.99 I created the Fox News Alert we

were striving to accomplish a sense of

urgency

urgency in the sense that what was about

to be delivered after the Fox News Alert

was very important quote unquote

shocking news specifically Columbine and

all the other important news stories of

that time but now looking back now that

I'm not there I find it interesting that

I've seen the Fox News Alert used for

stories like benefit JLo and Ben's

relationship I mean this compared to a

school shooting and there's really no

relationship to me and I don't

understand why based on what we

originally created it for uh why they

would choose to use it for a story like

that because the sound and the visuals

Associated or originally was associated

with things that were much more

important

and this is a Fox News Alert a very busy

day for Martha Stewart earlier today she

met with her parole officer no they

deliberately blur it and I find it I

find it very hard to believe you know

there's no separation between Bill

O'Reilly the interviewer and Bill

O'Reilly with his talking points I mean

there's just no separation at all Jimmy

Carter is making yet another mistake and

this time there's no excuse for it and

that's a memo now for the top story

tonight another view on this it's very

hard on Fox News to separate news from

commentary because it all Blends

together that's what makes it so

ridiculous that slogan we report you

decide because there's no TV news

channel in history that's ever reported

less for example a Brit Hume newscast

um which is presented as a newscast

um I think you you see a lot of attitude

and opinion uh both from the anchor and

from the reports welcome to Washington

I'm Brit Hume there was further Evidence

today that President Bush's days of

absorbing John Kerry's attacks with

without counter-attack are over Fox

blurs the line between these in

commentary all over the place we are too

believed that Brit Hume is the anchor of

a news Outlet he doesn't bring strong

politics to it he just happens to Anchor

the newscast like Peter Jennings on

Sundays Brit Hume turns into a rather

caustic right wing pundit look this goes

to Murdoch too he doesn't believe in

objectivity he doesn't believe he has

contempt for journalism I think I mean

they wanted all news to be a matter of

opinion

because opinion can't be proven false

and I think that's very dangerous

because if people don't have a set of

facts that they can agree on I think

it's difficult to reach a consensus on

you know what's correct public policy it

wasn't so much

a scripted design that promoted the off

the cuff ad-libs that you see so often

on Fox News Channel it was sort of a

reinforcement John Kerry is Jane Fonda

with the Burberry scarf tied around his

neck any ad-lib that made the Democrats

look stupid and made the Republicans

look smart would get an attaboy uh so a

pat on the back a wink or a nod well you

know there's an old Pizza expression

you've tried all the rest now try the

best some people say especially on that

paddle there those Commissioners that

Condoleezza Rice might be the best and

we haven't heard from her publicly at

least are you saying the commission's

cheesy that you wouldn't say that no

they're crusty on the panel okay John

Kerry has Kim Jong-il on his side

Barbara Streisand you could go wrong

North Korea loves uh loves John Kerry

really yeah there's no sense of

Integrity as far as having a line they

can't be crossed not having that sort of

line becomes very tempting for someone

to self-promote by crossing the line

saying something funny that you would

never dare say if you were stepping back

and looking at it from the sense of a

journalism school and is this the right

thing for journalism would never happen

other journalists use phrases like some

people say or officials say when they're

trying to insert anonymously information

in a story that sort of advances the

storyline Fox does it in a different way

some people say is fox's cue that I'm

pretending to be an anchor so I can't

say this is my opinion or this is Roger

Ailes opinion but some people say some

people say that'd be a pretty good

choice bring in the Hispanic some people

saying ah he's posturing some people say

and excuse me I'll get to you Joe in

just a second but some people say that

you may be setting up Sharpton for a run

against Hillary in 2006 in the Senate

journalistically it's a very peculiar

technique because the idea behind

journalism is that you're sourcing who

you're referring to this is just sort of

a clever way of of inserting political

opinion when you know it probably

shouldn't be there some people say that

this might undermine what the US troops

are doing there some people say some

people say John Kerry has some

similarities to an earlier Massachusetts

politician and some people say in light

of what's happened with the oil for food

program some people say supported by

Iran some say I've heard a couple people

say some say that it's a sour grapes

book some people say some people say

some people say it's just too violent

there's too much blood some people say

some people say well some people say

some people say some say it some people

say some are saying some people say

there's some people who say something if

not major has already happened those are

his words some people say it's

exploitive what do you say to that

I was given a folder a little binder

that had the names of all the Fox News

Consultants you know the people who were

paid to come on the air to give their

opinions to be a Fox News contributor

means you're under contract and you're

getting paid to set them out joining us

in DC is Larry Johnson former CIA

officer and former deputy director of

the state Department's office of

counterterrorism my services were in

great demand in December of 2001. the

contract expired in January of 2003. and

the first thing that I noticed was that

I recognized all of the conservatives

who were in the roster they were very

well-known people who would come from

you know talk radio or from some sort of

political background

and so I knew all of those people and

they were very very strong people I came

in and was always you know I was going

to call it as I saw it for example the

edict came down apparently to stop

referring to Suicide bombings in Israel

as suicide bombings they call them

homicide bombings I thought that was

stupid and I continue to call them

suicide bombings because every bombing

that kills someone is a homicide bombing

but when I looked at the liberal roster

there was only one person's name who I

recognized which I recognized and that

was Bob Shrum who is a very well-known

speechwriter and political consultant in

Washington

the other ones though were people I'd

never heard of my entire background was

in politics and political journalism so

I knew pretty much all the players in DC

and I'd never heard of these people the

question came up about the ability of

the United States to fight two Wars

simultaneously going into Iraq is going

to divert resources and attention that

should be focused on Al Qaeda and Sean

Hannity being the you know right-wing

cheerleader that he is was just you know

incense that I was to add the temerity

to suggest that we couldn't we do have

the ability and the resources to we're

able to walk and chew gum we could

handle the situation in Iraq and we can

still finish the job of protecting

against al Qaeda in another attack what

happens is when the resources end up

getting diverted and particularly the

airlift assets required facts don't seem

to have any effect upon him what was

unusual is it was after that appearance

that even though I was under contract to

Fox for another uh eight weeks roughly

they stopped using me

your government failed you

those entrusted with protecting you

failed you

and I failed you

and for that failure

I would ask

once all the facts are out

for your understanding

and for your forgiveness

when Richard Clark emerged it was

obvious this was a danger to the

administration because he had worked at

the highest echelons of the Bush

Administration and it was almost like

Fox News was working off of The Playbook

coming out of the White House that he

had to be torn down he had to be turned

into a Democrat a liberal a carry guy he

is bringing this up in the heat of a

presidential campaign can you assume

from what he's saying that he has now

become a political do you feel that

there is a political he is as some have

suggested auditioning for a job in the

Carrie Administration sucking up to

another Administration said when he came

to me to ask for my support with Tom

Ridge angling for a top job and Homeland

Security Department and did not get it

see one of the things that fox does and

conservatives do is they don't have to

win every argument but if they can muddy

the argument enough if they can turn it

into a draw that to them is a victory

because it denies the other side of

Victory well Sean I either there are

apparently two dick clocks here Dick

Clark has been on three sides of a

two-sided issue he's totally

contradicted himself his statements are

contradictory a lot of information that

contradicts Clark aren't there

insufficient contradictions he has

written a book and he certainly wants to

go out there and promote that book is he

just out to sell a book who's out to

sell his book did he have a motive

behind writing the book and going out on

60 Minutes and criticizing the bush

administrationally this guy's Hawking a

book unveiling his book an appalling Act

of profits here who rakes Bush over the

calls and gives Clinton a pass now in

the book gives Clinton a complete pass

easily Clark treats uh built the Bill

Clinton

concerns about where the truth lies and

what Richard Clark was saying they

launched a major smear campaign in some

ways it worked I thought number one he

was extremely melodramatic and that he

was in toning with great pathos I mean I

it seems it almost seemed like it was a

performance and it was just attack

politics

on a TV channel usually you leave attack

politics to a political campaign Carol

rovin company are quite good at

character assassination you know there

are all these people dozens of people in

the White House paid for by you and I

paid for by our taxes right writing

talking points calling up conservative

columnists calling up talk radio host

telling them what to say it's

interesting all the talk radio people

the right wing talk radio people all

across the country saying exact the same

thing exactly same words I noticed that

I was watching it there's a 24-hour News

Network and I'm sure it's a coincidence

but what they were saying was remarkably

similar to what the the White House was

saying and I couldn't help but thinking

uh how funny that was

the we are bringing diversity of opinion

uh we are there is diversity of opinion

on Fox News you may disagree with that

we have many liberals there many liberal

uh invited we have a liberal

commentators as we have conservative

ones who are your liberal commentators

Alan combs for one

um

Greta Van sustrian

um you know it's in the eye of the

beholder I guess again until what

they'll try to put on uh the appearance

of being balanced but really kind of a

mismatch you'll have a Hannity and comb

show where Hannity is a really a

good-looking clean-cut All-American kind

of guy and and his counterpart is a

little squirrely looking frankly and you

kind of say he's the liberal well maybe

he's not so smart after all and and it

sends a subtle message I think you're a

good liberal good liberal good liberal a

lot of the times the Liberals that they

get to appear on are either uh you know

faux liberals like I would use Susan

Estridge as an example of that a person

who was brought on who essentially

agrees with the person on the right in a

lot of cases I am your biggest liberal

friend I do take a little heat people

sometimes say to me do you really like

Sean Hannon what's not to like what does

that mean I thought I was Sean's biggest

liberal friend I I you know I love you

all friends or they would just bring on

people who were very week you know

people who were not well-known people we

can learn from history because if we

don't we're condemned to repeat it in

the facts you're going to get one guy

Clark accusing Bush saying Clinton

really you know giving him a pass then

you're going to get the Bush

Administration attacking Clark you're

not going to get the truth Marianne you

weren't there you don't know right

you're probably right about that in the

even the people who are supposedly

liberal in those panel discussions they

know that uh to challenge the guests and

the other hosts too forcefully

um we'll they'll they'll certainly find

someone else to stand in your place if

that's the case you're spinning now I'm

not I'm not right-wing I believe in

global warming

we looked at special reports one-on-one

interviews there once a day we studied

25 weeks of the one-on-one guest who

appeared on Special Report from late

June through mid-December of 2003.

Republicans appeared five times as often

as Democrats on one-on-one newsmaker

interviews that means that Republicans

made up 83 percent of the partisan

guests while Democrats made up just 17

percent in addition the few Democrats

that were interviewed for the show

tended to be Centrist and conservative

Democrats often brought on to a firm

Bush Administration policies so what

does this all mean well if Fox were the

Bastion of fairness and balance that it

claims to be we'd see a lot more balance

in this prominent interview segment on

the Network's most prestigious show

instead the numbers indicate that Brit

Hume and Special Report choose the their

guests based on political considerations

rather than news judgment

that's here on the Fox News Channel the

network America trusts for fair and

balanced news

my criticism of Fox News isn't that it's

a conservative channel it's the Consumer

Fraud of fair and balanced it's nothing

of the sort

you pitch a story in any given editorial

meeting that didn't meet the criteria

that they had explained to you and

you got a thumbs down when you have this

Executive Vice President and those

around and who are consistently saying

no we're not going to do that story no

the story is bad this story is good and

it becomes very clear to all the bureau

Chiefs to everybody involved who have

been there over a period of years there

are certain kinds of stories it's not

even worth bringing up there are other

kinds of stories that you know

Management's going to love Fox news

channels uh stated uh practice was to

embarrass humiliate challenge or disrupt

whatever Jesse Jackson did we were told

on many occasions that he was one of our

targets anything we could do or say that

would embarrass him discredit him

we were encouraged to find the

information and we were encouraged to

report the information

I did a piece on immigration and I

thought it was poignant to tell the

stories of these people and all of the

things that they had to go through to

get citizenship and how we take for

granted how really blessed we are to be

born with it and the line that I used in

describing their efforts was folks

seeking citizenship earned not born

suggesting that hey they really want

citizenship because they've got to go

through all these motions

what managing it was very angry because

who these people are they haven't earned

a thing they're just here for a free

ride they're just here trying to take

advantage of all of our freebies and and

I mean it was just uh he just laid waste

to the idea that these people were

hard-working

it was very specifically said we need to

be fair to the Bush Administration or to

the Republicans than anybody else in the

media would be but that was almost

understood as sort of a code for layoff

I am first to your knowledge of a

reporter who was basically yelled and

screamed at by Executives because that

reporter was asking tough questions of

James Baker at a news conference it was

a news conference that was being carried

live James Baker was saying we want to

count every vote And the reporter was

peppering with questions like wait a

second if you want to count every vote

why not go back and find the votes that

were not counted because of problems

with the Chad the reporters in New York

thought that this was a little too

confrontational the style never mind

that when Warren Christopher got out

there for Gore the questions were

equally tough there were no complaints

about the question and Christopher but

because the questions of James Baker

were so tough that reporter was pulled

off the story and said we can't trust

you anymore you didn't handle this story

very well go back to Washington

Ronald Reagan's birthday was for Fox

News Channel viewers something akin to a

holy day

this was Ronald Reagan's birthday and so

my assignment was to go to the Reagan

Presidential Library in Simi Valley

California and to do live shots from

Before Dawn until until dark there

weren't very many people at the

Presidential Library there wasn't a

celebration in any organized way going

on you know there was a class of fourth

graders who came to the library that day

to take the tour and they were lined up

and they sang Happy Birthday

[Applause]

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but that was pretty much the extent of

the celebration

they saw my first three or four live

shots and Mr Moody called in to say what

is he doing out there apparently my live

shots weren't celebratory enough and I

was frankly at a bit of a loss as to

what to say or do to make it seem like

there was a big celebration since Dawn

they've been streaming in from all over

the country and even parts of Canada and

Mexico admire so I got in trouble for

that one I got in big trouble for that

one in fact I was suspended what you

will see of course is intensive

discussion about what we call the wedge

issues you'll hear you know affirmative

action you'll hear abortion you'll hear

certainly gay rights God in the

separation of church and state issues

will be on television every single day I

think this gay marriage thing is going

to be an enormous presidential issue but

there again we have to be fair in

Balance I mean we can't like run with

that

the Stampede of same-sex couples to the

altar has accelerated President Bush

says he's deeply troubled by the

hundreds two thousand same-sex couples

engaged in 2300 and Counting that's the

same-sex couples same-sex couples

wanting to say same-sex marriage their

job which is what the right-wing

Republicans want to do is to divide

America up ignore the important economic

health care environmental issues and

they do that extremely successfully they

did start up a gay marriage but I think

that they got sort of Blindsided they

all of a sudden couldn't show the usual

footage they used to show because they

used to love to show the footage of

course the parades and the black leather

and you know the drag queens then they

had you know very kind of normal looking

dumpy middle-aged couples getting

married and smooching on the steps of

City Hall so I've noticed a certain kind

of uh zest going out of the gay marriage

thing but that the opposite uh where

they've picked up the slack is on

anything to do with religion anything to

do with the 10K Commandments anything to

do with God why is Jesus so popular

right now well I think it depends on who

you talk to I think a lot of people

would say that one of the reasons that

he's very popular is that Mel Gibson's

movie has come out

George W bush because of all this he

wants to see it and I'm sure they will

set up a special screening there at the

White House oh sure you know he's a

devout Christian right apparently he

prays daily do they think it's about

just a movie just entertainment or do

they think that there's really something

bigger at work well I think they think

that there's something bigger at work

September 11th threatened people and

people look to Jesus for Comfort but

number two

um a line was drawn around the world

between two kinds of religions two kinds

of societies freedom is not this

country's gift to the world

freedom is the almighty's gift to every

man and woman in this world boy couldn't

you just see the elite media tremble

over that one the president knows

evoking the deity will anger the secular

media he doesn't care talking points

applaud they're going to push God very

very hard particularly going up in the

Bush's reelection

all of us working together can change

America One Soul at a time

Christian fundamentalist movement is one

that believes in we're right you're

wrong no matter what

and I saw a lot of that at Fox

we're right you're wrong no matter what

[Music]

The O'Reilly Factor is probably the

perfect example of everything that's

wrong with Fox News Channel you have

stories that are selected primarily to

upset liberals and and Democrats and

prop up the Republican party you have a

hostility towards guests that disagree

with the host and you have a host who in

service of his conservative politics

Will will distort facts will

misrepresent things and uh will in some

cases just fabricate in the personal

story segment tonight we were surprised

to find out that an American who lost

his father in the World Trade Center

attack had signed an anti-war

advertisement that accused the USA

itself of terrorism Jeremy Glick is the

son of a Port Authority worker who died

in at 9 11 and he had signed an anti-war

petition and O'Reilly had to have him on

and they were so persistent about

getting me on the O'Reilly show because

they found out that I was on The

Advisory Board and signed a statement

that was against the war and then I was

directly impacted by 9 11. the success

that I had on the O'Reilly show had to

do with just practice and preparation so

I taped the shows and what I did is I

took a stopwatch that I used to use for

running Sprints in high school and I

would see when he has a hostile guest

and I would time how long it takes for

him to cut them off you were the only

one I was surprised and the reason I was

surprised is that this ad equates the

United States with the terrorists I said

I'm shocked that you're surprised and

basically just made the only point I

wanted to make our current president now

inherited a legacy from his father and

inherited a political Legacy that's

responsible for training militarily

economically and situating

geopolitically the parties involved in

the alleged assassination and murder of

my father and countless of thousands of

others so I don't see why we should be

surprising for you to think all right

that I would come back and want to

support it

I'll tell you why it's surprising you

are a mouthing a far left position it

was extremely intimidating sitting down

in the studio because he's really tall

and like dude like he loves over you you

see even I'm sure your beliefs are

sincere but what upsets me is is I don't

think your father would be approving of

this well actually my father thought

that Bush's presidency was illegitimate

maybe but I don't think he'd be equating

this country as a terrorist Nation well

I wasn't saying that it was necessarily

like that yes

Jeremy was pretty cool during it and he

was giving his political views which

were very to the left of O'Reilly's and

he said oh I don't really care what you

think politically and I said obviously

you do care because a you brought me on

the show and B I told him that he uses

911 and sympathy with the 911 families

and the law and the lies lost to

rationalize his narrow right-wing agenda

you evoke sympathy

that's a bunch of crap so I've done more

for the 911 families by their own

admission I've done more for them than

you will ever hope to do okay so you

keep your mouth shut

knows people I don't represent and I

never represent you you know why why

because you have a warped view of this

world and a warp view of this country

we'll explain that let me give you an

example I'm not going to update this

with you let me give you an example of

parallel uh experience no on September

14th here's September 14th here's the

record all right you didn't support the

action against Afghanistan to remove the

Taliban you were against it why would I

want to brutalize and further punish the

people who killed your father

sure they did the al-Qaeda people would

train there the al-Qaeda people see I'm

more angry about it than you are so what

about George Bush what about George Bush

you have nothing to do with it the

director senior as director he had

nothing to do with people that trained a

hundred thousand who were I hope your

mom isn't watching us your mother is not

watching us it's unfair for O'Reilly to

evoke both my mom and my father in the

interview especially when I wasn't you

know I mean she my mom is a grieving

Widow for a prematurely volume of

violent horrific turn in their lives my

dad was only 55 he was they were working

people you know working class middle

class like they were not retiring for a

while they you know and their life is

basically destroyed you know their life

together is destroyed and destroyed in

circumstances that I wouldn't wish on my

worst enemies including Bill O'Reilly

because you that's it I'm not going to

say anymore okay in respect for your

father September I didn't know what I

was doing shut up his respect

in respect for your father who was a

Port Authority worker a fine American

who got killed unnecessarily by

Barbarian by radical extremists trained

by this government respect not the

people of America ruling class A small

minority cut his might I'm not going to

dress you down anymore out of respect

for your father we'll be back in a

moment we're done we're done

[Music]

you see him gesturing to security guards

and then came the after film performance

after they're off the air he said to the

kids on the effect get out of my studio

before I [ __ ] tear you to pieces

so Jeremy and I've talked to him since

went actually went to the Green Room to

get a cup of coffee and the executive

producer and the assistant encouraged me

to leave the building because they were

quote concerned that if O'Reilly ran

into me in the hallway he would end up

in jail

this is our house here if somebody comes

to your house and begins spitting on the

floor you'd remove them Glick was out of

control and spewing hatred for this

program and his country using vile

propaganda the next day I just turned on

and watch the the follow-up and saw my

views totally distorted next thing I

know I was saying Bush plan 911

Glick was saying without a shred of

evidence that President Bush and Bush

the Elder were directly responsible for

9 11. now that kind of stuff is not only

loony it's defamation that pains me as

as a fringe conspiracy nut this kid said

nothing nothing about President Bush and

his father Bush the Elder orchestrating

the attack on their own country so

O'Reilly's just lying here

he came on this program and accused

President Bush of knowing about 9 11 and

murdering his own father Glick said can

I sue him

and so I called the lawyer who was in my

case of the fox versus Dutton and

Franken he says well the kid has to

prove that O'Reilly knew he was lying

and O'Reilly is so crazy

he lies so pathologically

that it's harder to prove that O'Reilly

knew he was lying

so oddly enough if someone has a record

of crazily lying it is harder to sue

them for defamation

[Music]

an anthrax vaccine for 25 million the

key thing is don't be inhaling don't be

ingesting don't be sucking particles in

your body that could get the radiation

inside all right

first your advice is stay inside don't

drink or eat anything many of the themes

that are promoted on the Fox News

Channel have to do with generating fear

whether that's fear of immigration fear

of sexual difference a fear of racial

difference when you Pander to fear it's

a great motivator an organizer you've

got to keep people alarmed they really

love this sense of fear and danger even

when it's not there and so when

something is actually dangerous that's

some things are they go completely

overboard and all sense of perspective

is lost so that Anthrax which I guess

affected four or five people adversely

no question about it is far more

dangerous than you know the poisoning of

our air the way we deal with them is the

way President Bush is dealing with them

you Court in the area you search for

them and you shoot them the motivator is

fear and then the payoff is you know

we're going to go out and kill the bad

guys and you know it's a very simple

black and white world that they paint

and portray and terrorism has become the

all-purpose fear weapon because now

everything is converted into terrorism

and of course if you have a constant

sense of unease then you're going to

look to the government to protect you

you're going to look to strong

government we've removed from Power

enemies of this country we have made

America more secure

there are these enemy out there it's an

ill-defined enemy but as long as we're

fighting them and we're killing them and

he's looking presidential then nothing

else again is discussed what was

interesting is in the climate of the

Bush Administration that much of that

fear the emotion was purposely

misdirected by the right wing uh into

the war in Iraq the type of coverage Fox

offers and all of them offer but Fox is

probably the most pristine version is

completely consistent with Bush's um

with with the strategy of the push

Administration a to prevent discussion

of things that are not going well like

for instance the economy or the Medicare

bill there's no doubt that the war

against Iraq a country that did not

attack us could only proceed based on

fear tonight it's a special two-hour

block four is my last choice but the

risk of doing nothing is even a worse

option as far as I'm concerned dealing

with Iraq the president's war on terror

when will his military plans get put

into action we hope you depend on us for

the truth because we're going to report

the situation in Iraq without an agenda

or any ideological prejudice

then you gotta take what comes not that

we hate you Martin Sheen but that we may

not want to watch your television

program anymore because we're

identifying you with being against what

we believe in Americans and indeed are

foreign allies who actively work against

our military once the war is underway

will be considered enemies of the state

by me first are the Americans who went

over to Baghdad to act as human Shields

well are they more than just protesters

are they Traders so Harry Belafonte he's

at it again he says the Bush

Administration is possessed of evil as

the Calypso King on Bonkers you have a

right to say what you want but we have a

right not to buy your record just fair

warning to you Barbara Streisand and

others who see the world as you do we

don't want to demonize anyone but anyone

who hurts this country in a time like

this well let's just say you will be

spotlighted certainly television and

perhaps to an extent my station was

intimidated by the administration and

its foot soldiers at Fox News and it did

in fact put a climate of fear and

self-censorship in my view in terms of

of the kind of broadcast work we did

first rule of being a great propaganda

system and why our system is vastly

superior to anything in the old Soviet

Union it's not that people think they're

being subject to propaganda if people

don't think that they're looking for

that they're much easier to propagandize

and that's the genius of our media

systems a system of ideology of control

compared to an authoritarian system

[Music]

so we're making good progress in Iraq

sometimes it's hard to tell it when you

listen to the filter tremendous purpose

in Iraq all the kids are back in school

10 more than when Saddam Hussein was

there there's 100 more fresh water

it's a fresh start for Iraqi athletes so

far 2500 schools have been renovated are

Iraqis better off than they were one

year ago

yes they are definitely better off

because these Brave athletes look

forward to making Olympic gold I mean

there's so many positive developments

fox has made a decision

to present the Iraq War as a success and

as an ongoing success the Baghdad

equestrian Club is open for business and

yes you can play these ponies it's the

Iraq you don't hear about falling

unemployment Rising wages interest rates

down foreign investment up life for 95

of the Iraqis is already immeasurably

better than it was under the Decades of

saddam's rule there's no question about

that and that's what's the least

reported story over there you go to the

markets they're thriving big fat fish

coming out of the Tigris and the

Euphrates River young men in Baghdad

blowing off steam with their cars the

guys that have put their wheels through

the paces once a week something they say

they were not allowed to do Under the

old senior producer told the two or

three writers for her NewsHour she told

us now just keep in mind it's all good

this is such a fair and balanced issue

keep it positive we've got to emphasize

all the good that we're doing achieved

at that point made a reference to

rebuilding schools bringing democracy to

Iraq and then she said see big progress

Yoo-hoo for us things were actually at

that point going quite

badly many more American soldiers were

dying each day and God knows how many

Iraqis 277 U.S soldiers have now died in

Iraq which means that statistically

speaking U.S soldiers have less of a

chance of dying from all causes in Iraq

than citizens have of being murdered in

California which is roughly the same

geographical size

[Music]

[Music]

foreign

the people survey is interesting because

you're looking at questions of of basic

true false kind of factual nature did we

find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq

[Music]

these are very simple questions with

very simple answers and what the survey

found was that the more likely you were

to watch Fox News Channel the more

likely you were to have completely

incorrect assumptions about these things

foreign

all the research shows a very high

correlation in the case of Fox News with

people watching it with having a very

confused notion of the world on one hand

especially of foreign policy in the

Middle East and also being strongly

supportive of the government and Power

[Music]

and this is an extraordinarily

disturbing trend for the media I mean

for any self-respecting journalist if

you're told the more people consume your

media the less they'll know about the

subject and the more they'll support

government policy and that's that's

exactly the worst thing any journalist

would ever want to hear or should want

to hear

[Music]

in terms of fox overall I think we have

got to appreciate

and when we look at them is to

understand that this is an adjunct of

the Republican party what fox

specializes in is punditry basically

getting marching orders from the

Republican National Committee or some

political operative and then having

people pontificate about it have guests

come on and talk about it I have pseudo

experts come on and discuss it their

main allegiances I'm talking about the

people at the top is to the Republican

Party Murdock is is absolutely to his

core a partisan and he makes no secret

about that

[Music]

George W voice sat for an interview with

all in Austin with Fox news channels

Carl Cameron who joins us now with

highlights hello Carl hi Brad welder it

was well known in the summer of 2000

that Fox's lead political correspondent

covering the Bush campaign that his wife

was campaigning for bush bush does have

a Halo okay

very well my wife has been hanging out

with your sister yeah good my county has

been all over the state campaigning and

Pauline has been constantly with her

and there is a good person my uh oh she

she's been terrific I mean Paulie to

hear Pauline tell it when she first

started campaigning for you she was a

little bit nervous but now she's out

getting her stride she's got she doesn't

need notes she's going to crowds and

she's got the whole wrist she's a good

Soul she's having fun too she's a really

good soul

and in any other news organization in

fact in CNN that very summer there was a

producer whose husband was a lawyer for

the gore team and this was a producer

who would have naturally covered goar

who was immediately told you not to have

anything to do with campaign coverage

either covering Bush or covering War

because of the possible conflict of

interest or the perception of the

conflict of interest at Fox

they didn't care the fact that the

senior political reporter his wife is

actually campaigning for the Bush

campaign at a time when this guy is

covering them that didn't even register

it never would have occurred are you

guys ready all right that's great here

we go

she's the little things that get

disclosed I like that

thank you for joining us sir yes sir

thanks Carl it's good to see you just a

few days away from the convention that's

a whack of having some sort of basic

journalistic Integrity that is just

missing from that organization

thank you

first person who made the call to say

that George W bush had been elected

president of the United States was the

person who was in charge of fox news's

election analysis division the people

that crunched the exit polling numbers

that person was a gentleman named John

Ellis and he is George W Bush's first

cousin at around two in the morning on

Election night

the a new set of data had come in and it

was complex data with from precincts all

over Florida

the proper answer in analyzing that data

unquestionably was you couldn't tell it

was too close to call there was simply

no clear winner

instead John Ellis called it as a clear

win for George Bush

news then interrupted its ongoing

election coverage and announced that

George Bush had been elected president

of the United States Fox News Now

projects George W bush the winner in

Florida and thus it appears the winner

of the presidency of the United States

now What's significant about that is not

the intervention of the president's

cousin to declare his relative the new

president of the United States it was

the fact that within minutes ABC NBC CBS

also fell right in line calling Bush as

the winner George Bush is the

president-elect of the United States

Bush wins ABC News is now going to

project that Florida goes to Mr Bush

there's no way that they could have

crunched the data in that time to come

to that conclusion in fact quite the

opposite they should have come to the

conclusion which Associated Press came

to which was that you couldn't make a

call when Fox made the call that bush

had won and the other other networks

followed on that created the perception

that Bush was the winner in fact he

wasn't but that perception was what

really held for the next 37 days and I

would suggest to you that that call on

Election night had more to do with

making George Bush president than any

recount or ballot design issue

to our audience that information

our lengthy and critical

self-examination

shows that we let our viewers down

I apologize for making those bad

projections that night it will not

happen again

in the old Soviet Union you used to hear

about the party line shifting 180

degrees watching Fox News at the end of

Clinton where it was all Attack Mode

where they were just vicious Watchdogs

and then bush takes power and they're

like little lap dogs it was like night

and day and it's a party line shift the

president has the direction and the

vision to take us into the future boldly

and with with courage and with optimism

he is an extraordinarily straightforward

leader he says what he's going to do

what he does it the president stands for

steady leadership during a time of

enormous change in challenge but the

president is on Air Force One and the

plane is now touched down in New Mexico

as strong a pro-national security

conservative president as I have ever

seen this is the guy who says what he

means it means what he says but the

president is a gentleman you know he set

a different tone for his campaign

[Applause]

[Music]

foreign

[Applause]

[Music]

lived up to its word

this was a super night for our candidate

John Kerry and a super night for the

Democratic party he's a super nominee

foreign

that in 2004

one United Democratic Party

we can and we will win this election

what would you say would be uh Senator

Kerry's one or two major weak points

that could be exploited the presidential

hopeful has missed every one of the 22

roll call votes in the Senate this year

but hasn't missed the paycheck he talks

about trying to protect the taxpayers

every single day and here he is fleecing

the taxpayers out of 150 000 a year so

do you think he should step down Dominic

when he's running for president the

controversy over John Kerry and his

Vietnam War medals has just gotten worse

he says he never suggested he threw them

away but the videotape does not lie

foreign

s or Metals which did John Kerry throw

away after he returned from Vietnam his

perceived disrespect for the military

could be more damaging to the candidate

than questions about his actions in

uniform

many are angry over Kerry's post-war

protests but the bigger issue here is

Kerry's involvement in a group that's

inherently violent presumptive

Democratic nominee John Kerry was

scaring old people as usual with the

predictable Democratic line he said

President Bush will cut off their

entitlement checks it isn't true but the

LIE has worked well for Democrats in the

past assuming that the unthinkable

happens and that that Senator Kerry

becomes president you're watching Fox

News Real journalism fair and balanced

they will give you

the the almost the full Bush stump

speech no matter where it is no matter

how many times they've shown it good cut

live to these campaign rallies as if

there was going to be real news in them

as if Bush was going to say anything

earth-shattering and your uh ability to

make good decisions

like

marrying your wife Carolyn Fox portrays

his every action as a heroic move as a

you know something dramatic and

significant I imagine it's pretty hard

for the fox producers some days George

Bush doesn't do anything interesting and

yet they've got to find something that

makes him heroic that day most people

just started waking up and saying Oh you

mean we don't have the fairness Doctrine

anymore I can't tell you how many times

when I was a political candidate running

for office I would have somebody come up

to me on the street and say now I saw

your opponent on TV the other day aren't

they supposed to give you equal time and

I didn't even know for years that we

lost that in the Reagan Era that for

years we haven't had the ability to

expect both sides to be adequately

covered clearly on the Republican side

what we do know is that for years they

have coordinated what they call their

message of the day so you'll hear on the

floor of the house you'll hear on Rush

limbo you'll hear on a fox and Rupert

Murdoch's Network the the issue of the

day which they will pound away at which

then creates the echo chamber which

resonates throughout America

here's what he said

I actually did vote for the 87 billion

before I voted against it Senator Kerry

recently said quote I actually did vote

for the 87 billion dollars before I

voted against him

end quote

Kerry starting to feel the heat for his

flip-flop voting record is in West

Virginia is President Bush doing a good

job of defining carriers of

flip-floppers and you're saying he

flip-flopped on the issue of this

because he does seem to agonize and

flip-flop over and over and over again

he's flip-flopped on all these issues

beneath Kerry's flip-flopping is an

opportunistic flip-flopper you're

talking flip-flops brand of Summer

Footwear John Kerry flip-flops they say

that he flip-flops a lot so he's

flip-flopped now on every major issue

those would be the flip-flops because

he's flip-flopped on everything else is

Senator Kerry guilty of flip-flopping on

these flip-flops like crazy first of all

flip-flops you've seen him flip-flop on

a whole variety of issues opportunistic

flip-flopper who doesn't have any

principles is that a little harsh I

think

um it shows one thing the weakness of

John Kerry you're watching Fox News Real

journalism fair and balanced

and just 263 days until you get to cast

your vote and decide that George W bush

deserves a second term

John Kerry may wish he'd taken off his

microphone before trashing the GOP his

course description of his opponents has

cast a luried glow over the campaign

presidential hopeful John Kerry got

caught on tape in some candid remarks

that he didn't want everybody to hear

but we did John Kerry has been lashing

out at President Bush and by extension

Republicans for a long time nothing new

there you see a picture of George Bush

you expect to see hear organ music that

would come out of a church swelling the

the backlit head you know the Madonna

look and then a picture of John Kerry

flashes and you hear the the devil's

voice this is the devil he is evil is it

true the reports that we're seeing to

John Kerry on the slopes curse out of

secret service agent is that true I

think Kerry needed this vacation he was

showing some fatigue I mean the crooks

only 217 days and counting until George

W bush is reelected they're saying John

Kerry looks French John Kerry looks

French Carrie the man who would be

America's first French president when

you're at War there are two models you

have the Churchill Reagan Thatcher Tony

Blair George Bush model or you have the

McGovern Jimmy Carter French John Kerry

model are the Republicans going to

effectively be able to make Kerry French

good afternoon everybody or as John

Kerry would say bonjour French authencos

and that doesn't go into the code of the

American presidency I mean you know the

French the thinkers I mean they think

they think they think they never do

anything with their thinking I believe

that Mr Kerry has to get away of this

image if you want to win right now I

think is not in the American archetype

why is on vacation if the archetype is

to take action and you are taking

vacation I mean you definitely not you

don't feed the code you are off code

thank you very much you are hereby

invited back every week there's so many

ways you can play the economic story at

Fox News it's only the upbeat they

select statistics that prove the economy

is moving up and thank God for president

Bush for doing it economy of course

shaping up to be one of the hot button

issues in this presidential campaign

polls show the economy is shaping up to

be a major issue of the presidential

campaign they're all amazed at the

strength of the economy and how it's

picking up day by day I think the

economy is growing and uh I think it's

going to get stronger economy is very

very strong right now it continues to

get stronger the latest reading on the

nation's gross domestic product

confirming it Rose at a healthy 4.1 for

sales of existing homes up two percent

last month the economy is behaving like

it's on steroids at the moment the fact

is that the economy is improving will

Roar and 04 every sign or in all four

that sounds like a push 204 days until

George W bush is reelected

we're creating jobs

good high paying jobs for the American

citizens

[Music]

the president goes to Charlotte to talk

about job training buoyed by the 300 000

job figure last week he can boast his

policies are working

new jobs grew last month at the fastest

rate in four years with the the news

this morning 308

000 new jobs were created last month

they're drinking the Maalox right out of

the gallon bucket at the Kerry campaign

what this carry plan will do is punish

successful companies and that's bad if

you want to destroy jobs in this country

you raise taxes John Kerry's plan to

bring millions of jobs back to America

while someone here says watch out

Kerry's plan will end up killing more

jobs instead I said previously that the

market was neutral on John Kerry I think

that was utterly wrong I think the

market is down on John Kerry when the

market goes down one of the things you

often hear is the market is worried

about a carry Victory then out comes a

poll showing Kerry with a four or five

point lead down goes the market big time

and how they know that the market went

down because everybody had carry on

their mind as opposed to everyone was

worried about interest rates or everyone

looked at the earnings figures and

thought they weren't as good as

projected but they they they love to

pretend that their car neck the

Magnificent they can read the mind of

the market sure we got Terror threats

gas prices Sky High but Forbes as the

economy is still strong and getting

stronger every day there you have it 196

days till we re-elect George W wait wait

wait the election's over all right

thanks for letting me know it's almost

there I think Fox News of all lots of

procedures had the best increase in

profits what makes Murdoch particularly

dangerous is that he's foremost a

politician and he will use his immense

Media power to shape the content

especially the news that furthers his

interests and those of his allies

including uh the Conservative Republican

Community after all Fox News is nothing

more than a 24 7 political ad for the

GOP

foreign

Phil Donahue Primetime show

from the beginning they were saying to

us we have to be balanced giving them

instructions not to be too

confrontational don't be too partisan

don't be too angry now by the end of our

tenure balance wasn't enough

and this is the fox effect they mandated

that anytime we had if we had two

left-wing guests we had to have three

right-wing guests if we had one anti-war

guest we had to have two pro-war guests

and that's how we ended the show so

we're like trying to out fox fox you

cannot out fox fox but MSNBC and the

others have tried CNBC has tried to out

fox fox since the corporate structures

and corporate ownership of the other

channels did not allow anyone to counter

program against Fox

you know in television the inclination

is imitation you know I I think the

standard right now is is fox and I want

to be as interesting and as edgy as you

guys are it's influencing its

competitors

uh that's why you know uh MSNBC hired

Joe Scarborough that's why CNN in in

recent weeks has taken to reporting

pretty much anything the bush White

House tells it to report there is a

sense now that there is money in the

flag and fox knows that and its

competitors know the fox is on to

something

today news business is geared toward

entertainment it's geared toward in some

cases propaganda it's geared toward

ultimately the bottom line of a big

corporation that owns the station that

owns the news Operation it's called the

news business for a reason it is news

but it's a business

they don't like to spend money doing

serious stories they like to do cheap

easy stories that will get a gut

reaction the thing I think that

distresses me more than anything else is

that a lot of the news content is not

coming straight out of the newsrooms

particularly in television

but out of the promotion Department it's

expensive

expense to spend time exploring the

issues it's cheap and everything now is

a question of money if you go to the

National Association of black

journalists or you go to the National

Association of Hispanic journalists you

talk to Asian American journalists who

are on air you talk to Native American

journalists you're seeing a diminution

in the number of journalists that are

locally based because in order to save

money and in order to get economies of

scale and scope a lot of the

broadcasters are shrinking their

employee employee pool and they're

shrinking them in the news section

sectors of their stations so a lot of

the young vibrant people who are getting

experience as on-air talent in small

towns are seeing those opportunities

increasingly diminished when you let a

small number of companies have this much

concentrated power they will always

abuse it it's simply unacceptable in a

free society and if you don't change the

system we can be having this

conversation for the next 50 years we'll

be talking about Rupert Murdoch III

foreign

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just as Healthcare and the economy

and the environment are political issues

that people are familiar with corporate

control over the media is also a major

political issue when you have one

network that is so powerful and so

intent upon warping the dialogue it

limits that discourse it actually

influences it to be a narrower discourse

and that's what I think citizens ought

to be up in arms about we can't accept

this anymore if we do accept it we are

handing on to our children and our

grandchildren a lesser democracy than we

inherited and that's the one thing we

don't have a right to do it's ironic

that it's been what

30 years since Patty chieski wrote

Network

but I really believe

that those prophetic words that were

spoken by Peter Finch when he finally

got out of the chair and said it's time

go to the window shake your fist and say

I'm mad as hell I'm not gonna take it

anymore

I think those are resonant words today I

think people are genuinely upset get off

your rear end and become an activist and

if you see things that are biased

complain to the outlet and say you won't

be watching it anymore content has to

change power has to shift and I think

the only way we can shift power is the

only way we've ever been able to shift

Power by directly confronting those who

hold it and taking it back policies have

been made Behind Closed Doors by very

powerful special just thought any public

involvement or participation and what

we've learned in the last few years is

from the public that's aware of this and

they start organizing we can change

these policies and we can make a system

that actually responds to the needs of

the people of this country America's

digital Destiny is hanging in the

balance now

with the right activism public outcry

we can shape a meaty environment so that

in every Community there are channels

that actually serve the public interest

if you are a citizen at home right now

when you turn on talk radio all you hear

is one right-wing nut or another right

wing nut why don't you go to the radio

station and say I'm sick and tired of

this there are progressive voices out

there we want a balance if a Fox TV

station in your town is broadcasting

reports that you know to be inaccurate

that you know to be warping the news you

as citizens have power groups like code

pink and others have actually

demonstrated outside television stations

and have made noise about it you need to

basically play the Paul Revere role to

you know kind of ride out into the night

alerting people that there's something

bad going on here and and something

needs to be done about it here's what

I'd love to have happen

family from Nebraska Goes to Washington

for the family vacation we're going to

visit the air and space museum we're

going to visit the mall we're going to

visit the Vietnam memorial and we're

going to visit the FCC to see a

commissioner or two to tell them about

what we care about when that happens

you might start to see a little more

attention but you know it ain't gonna

happen if you don't try it we can

actually win here the whole strength of

the system has been based on people

being apathetic and not thinking they

could do anything about it as soon as we

rise up it collapses like a house of

cards that's the extraordinary

development of the last two years it is

not an issue of the right or the left it

is a populist issue about people finally

saying it's their democracy and they

aren't going to let five companies

control the Airways for corporate

convenience at the expense of public

necessity

foreign

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I come from a community in the in the

state of Maine that's mostly uh fishing

towns small coastal communities and for

many years we were served by one radio

station that everybody listened to I

mean it was local radio every time I

debated an opponent when I was running

for office everybody would tune it in in

their cars or their home radio and they

would hear what we were feeling

differently about and when Clear Channel

bought it that was the end you couldn't

even count on somebody looking out the

window and telling you if it was a good

day or a bad day or if the fog was

coming in but what was really

interesting to me was that people got so

angry there was a local group that

organized and attempted to get a low

power FM radio license they had a

hardpought battle a Clear Channel

opposed them and they actually won and

now there was a little radio station

operated out of a garage in that town

all volunteers anybody can play the

music that they want but at five o'clock

every day they tune into the dialogue of

what's going on in that community

coming

coming in my ear s

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oh we've been doing over the last decade

is to create this alternative

infrastructure so that we now have an

online audience of 10 000 unique

visitors per day to our home page plus

the over the air audience of our new low

power FM radio station and very soon

we're going to have Public Access TV in

this community so we're we've got three

legs of a of a stool here of an

alternative media infrastructure that

gives us a means of communicating among

ourselves and not just relying on the

occasional letter to the editor in the

corporate newspaper or almost no

coverage and the broadcast media because

they're all owned by Clear Channel and

and Sinclair or Fox

[Music]

when the youth media Council started one

of our first projects was to recruit

unorganized use of color teenagers and

have them study the fox affiliate

station in the Bay Area when we did the

study we were able to do an editorial

meeting it was the first time in

probably 10 or 15 years that a

constituency group locally had actually

ever came and demanded anything from

them they just get to do whatever they

want nobody cares nobody understands

that they can demand anything so it was

a pretty momentous moment for us you

know to to both demand something and get

it from a fox affiliate but also to be

one of the first you know folks to come

forward and that's that's something that

I think is a trend that we're trying to

start now marginalized people don't have

any concept that they can go to an

editor

in groups and demand something

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[Applause]

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thank you

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