Dear MoveOn member,
Our Fox campaign is becoming a major fight. The attacks are now coming from Fox -- in an attempt to intimidate other media outlets. We need your help. It's time to take this to Congress. On Friday, we'll deliver our Fox petition to members of Congress and we need to have at least 250,000 comments from across the nation. We're pushing members of Congress to make Fox come clean about its rank partisanship. Go to:
http://www.moveon.org/fox/ At first, Fox's strategy was to ignore our charges. But it didn't work. Outfoxed is now the best-selling DVD on Amazon.com. All the major newspapers are asking whether Fox is "fair and balanced." Editorial cartoonists are poking fun at Fox's Republican slant. We've attached links to a few of the best stories and cartoons below.
Last night on Fox News, Bill O'Reilly exploded over all the criticism, declaring war between his network and the New York Times in an attempt to distract from the charges made in the film. This is typical, of course. But no one at Fox has answered any of the charges: Why are there so many Republican commentators and guests compared to Democrats? (The media monitor FAIR reports five to one.) Why does Fox business management dictate how the news is framed in its daily memos? Why would Fox assign a reporter whose wife was out campaigning for Bush at the time to conduct an exclusive interview with him? How can Fox's slogan "Fair and Balanced" be anything other than an attempt to deceive viewers and advertisers?
So instead of responding, Fox is going to try to bully other media outlets into going silent on this story. We've got to fight back. Please join our petition now at:
http://www.moveon.org/fox/ The timing of this petition is perfect, because Congress is beginning to take up the issue. This afternoon, dozens of members of Congress will be viewing Outfoxed in a special showing. Several members of the House have drafted a letter asking Rupert Murdoch to come before them to discuss how he'll correct the partisan bias at Fox.
After you sign the petition, let friends know about the campaign. People are furious when they see how Fox does business.
If you haven't seen the movie, you can get a copy now by making a contribution of or more to AlterNet at:
http://www.alternet.org/donate/ As part of this campaign, we've got to support good media, and AlterNet is a great independent outlet. But even more importantly, AlterNet is leading the challenge by other media outlets of Fox's outrageous attempt to hold the trademark "Fair and Balanced." Believe it or not, if Fox succeeds in holding that trademark, it can sue to keep all others from using these words.
Let's keep up the pressure. Thank you for all you do.
Sincerely,
--Carrie, Joan, Lee, Marika, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org Team
July 21st, 2004
P.S. After you sign the petition, enjoy these great editorial cartoons about Fox's Republican favor and two articles about this campaign:
http://comics.com/editoons/luckovich/archive/luckovich-20040716.html Doonesbury has been "interviewing" Rupert Murdoch all week:
http://doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html?uc_full_date=20040719 "Activists Ask FTC to Take Action Against Fox News," Editor and Publisher
http://www.moveon.org/r?532 "Fox News slogan challenged," Associated Press
http://boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2004/07/20/fox_news_slogan_challenged/