This post is for a course I am currently taking at the University of Western Ontario. Please be advised that it does not have any direct link to the world of the web, but many indirect ones. This will be of great interest to fellow bloggers out there.

There is a common list of journalistic ethics that tend to be followed quite religiously throughout North America, such as being fair and balanced. There are, however, exceptions to this rule. Some individuals tend to break some of this code to gain an advantage in their respected field of expertise, but these individuals do not even compare to the blatant disregard for ethical boundaries that the Fox News Channel seems to have.

The documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism sets out to prove to the world that this major source of American news is greatly corrupt and pushes its right-wing views on the public. Many instances are shown where anchors and hosts take one small phrase or action and completely blow it out of context. What this documentary refrains from mentioning is the agenda of the documentary itself.
The constant barrage of accusations towards the Fox News Channel concerning bias in its reporting is not met with any opposition, mainly because the documentary did not interview or talk with any current news station employees – which in itself breaks Article 6 of the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ canons of journalism. Article 6, better known as Fair Play, is about giving people a chance to defend themselves. Aside from some ex-news anchors and a few anonymous people that actually did the opposite of defending Fox, no current Fox employees were featured on the documentary.

While this documentary obviously carries some bias in it, many good points arise. The most prominent point to discuss is one that has furiously made its way around the discussions of multiple courses offered at the University of Western Ontario – large conglomerates control the vast majority of news the general public sees and hears. Rupert Murdoch and Fox News Channel President, Roger Ailes are both accused of controlling what news (and how much of it) to cover.

I will leave you with that, and encourage you to watch the documentary for yourself and do some follow up research. Leave your two sense below.