Seems rather unfair that an entire company is being taken to task for nine employees. I remember protesting unfair labor practices against WGBH when I worked there in te 90's, and while opposing administration, still valued the station as a whole.
Warning: If you hate Moore, you will absolutely despise this post
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Editor & Publisher Online - July 10, 2004
'NY Times' Previews Controversial Film on the Fox News Channel
By Greg Mitchell
NEW YORK With controversy already brewing over the
soon-to-be-released documentary "Outfoxed," The New York Times
Magazine, in this Sunday's issue, offers an exclusive preview. Writer
Robert S. Boynton calls the film's "most stinging blow" to the Fox
News "fair and balanced" claim a series of daily memos apparently
sent to the entire Fox news operation by John Moody, a senior vice
president.
According to director Robert Greenwald, the memos were provided by
two unnamed Fox employees. The Times says the memos "set the agenda
for how events will be covered."
One memo, believed to be circulated in April, suggested how to cover
the rise in American deaths in Iraq: "Do not fall into the easy trap
of mourning the loss of U.S. lives." Another covered the U.S. siege
of Falluja: "It won't be long before some people start to decry the
use of 'excessive force.' We won't be among that group." Referring to
the 9/11 Commission hearing, a third urged: "Do not turn this into
Watergate."
What's being labeled a "press conference with Fox Whisteblowers" will
be held on Monday at noon in New York.
The New York Times article also reveals the filmmakers' concerns
about legal actions by Fox. "Nobody has ever made a critical
documentary about a media company that uses as much footage without
permission as Greenwald has," Boynton writes, "and the legal
precedents governing the 'fair use' of such material, while
theoretically strong, are not well-established in case law."
Greenwald has hired several lawyers. "I want to make a great film,"
he told Boynton. "But I'd like to do so without losing my house and
spending the rest of my life in court."
No one from Fox would comment on the film. The article says
Greenwald's lawyers were still deciding whether to "go through the
motions" of asking Fox for permission to use the extensive clips or
wait to see if the network will actually sue. "If they are lucky,"
Boynton writes, Fox will not use, recalling the backlash to its
lawsuit against Al Franken last year.
The movie, which the Times says "combines the leftist partisan vigor
of a Michael Moore film with the sober tone and delivery of a PBS
special," will debut Tuesday night in New York. A panel will
accompany the showing of the film at the New School featuring, among
others, Arianna Huffington and Nicholas Lemann.
It will be shown at Moveon.org house parties across the country a few
days later. A large chunk of its $300,000 budget was provided by Move
On and the Center for American Progress. Volunteers from Move On also
helped Greenwald monitor the cable news channel day and night.
The film also features interviews with Walter Cronkite and media
critic Eric Alterman. Eric Clapton allowed the free use of "Layla"
because of a longstanding dislike of Fox owner, Rupert Murdoch. Don
Henley donated his song "Dirty Laundry." But CBS denied use of clips
from "60 Minutes" explaining "it didn't want to be associate with a
controversial documentary about Murdoch," according to the Times.
WGBH refused permission for use of a clip from "Frontline" for fear
to looking too "political."
Appearing on Friday night, Greenwald said he interviewed for the film
a total of nine ex-employees of Fox.
