i saw the movie/documentary outfoxed earlier tonight. even though it is clearly an liberal opinion piece, much like uncovered: the war on iraq that i saw the other day, it speaks to a larger issue that so imperative to united states of america that i cannot avoid commenting on it.

newsjournalistic traditions differ from country/culture to the other, i understand and respect that, but i am simply amazed over how far the phenomena of political propaganda disguised as "news" has come in this country. news, as far as i am concerned, should be the reporting of pertinent facts regarding important issues, may they be local, national or global matters, to the general public. associated with that reporting there may be analysis, sometimes commentary if two or more different views are in play. but what we don't want/need in there are opinions from the journalist, especially when they solely exist to serve a hidden agenda.

what is going on in american media at the moment is nothing but an outrage. fox may be the poster child for this type of corporate/politically driven "news" coverage, however, they are not the only ones adopting this business model. because at its heart, it is a business model with profit-maximization at its essence, not a public service to the people/citizens. in fact, that the people communicating these scewed information dare calling themselves journalists and the content "news" is nothing short of an embarrassment, for themselves and for us the public. there is a law against falsely posing as e.g. a police officer, shouldn't there be a law, or at least ethical rule/oath, against pretending to be a journalist?

i haven't figured it out yet, but there has to be some type of grassroot action taken before it is too late. in the outfoxed movie there were some very alarming facts which basically boils down to that fox news viewers have a different comprehension of the facts/reality than consumers of other media outlets. for example 60+% of fox viewers thought that there is a clear connection between iraq and al-qaeda vs. 16% of pbs viewers. that is just mind boggling. i'm deeply concerned about the route that corporate-owned media with a political agenda are taking us down.