Rhetorical Analyses - Essay Example

Rupert Murdoch, an ultra-conservative, envisioned in the beginning of Fox News a more conservative observation of the media in contrast to the much more liberal representation that was emanated at the time. The film takes this information and then proceeds to broadcast a systematic series of events that test the validity and substance of Murdoch's journalistic approach. During the Reagan administration, Murdoch demanded the airing of a story in tribute to Reagan. The film portrays this as a problem because Fox News specifically focused on that story over other more important events.

The only issue with the way in which they express this information is that they did not indicate what other stories were going on at the time that had a greater value. A very interesting point the film dealt with was its emphasis on very specific parts of internal memos Fox sent to each individual broadcasting station. In the film, they darken the outside information and focus simply on one or two particular lines. The material from these one or two lines involved the stories that were to be covered that day or week.

The only issue with this method of persuasion is that it does not in fact show the entire memorandum, but rather a very particular part. By hiding the audience from an entire article and instead revealing only a small portion, the documentary distorts the larger issue with minute details. In its emphasis on fair and balanced reporting, the film challenges this claim through a very animated interviewer named Bill O'Reilly. Throughout his segment with the person he is interviewing, he often prevents them from giving their opinion by telling them to "Shut Up.

" There is a nice clip from the film that combines all sorts of instances where O'Reilly tells others to shut up. This is a very effective way to demonstrate the repetitive disgruntle that O'Reilly has towards anyone that is not a right-wing conservative. These clips also succeed in showing the irrational behavior of a very powerful correspondent. For in fact, he does not truly represent anything even close to the claim of fair and balanced reporting. By constantly interrupting people he interviews, he does not give anyone else but himself a chance to express their opinion.

Not only is he biased, but the film also shows his uncontrollable temper at a press conference. At the conference, he tells his opponent to "Shut Up" repeatedly after the man simply responds to O'Reilly with one simple remark. Probably the most influential method the film has at influencing people's opinions of the Fox News organization is its usage of anonymous interviews with previous Fox employees. The interviews involve events and occurrences that went on behind the scenes in the Fox news room.

The effective result of all of this is that interviewing anonymous people automatically evokes a sense of fear and suspicion in the audience. Even if the information they present is not factual, the viewer will believe what they are saying because they presume the person is being forced into anonymity by the actions of Fox News. The power in this argumentative device is that it subconsciously convinces viewers that something must be wrong with Fox if all of these normal, everyday people were all mysteriously removed from their positions.

The film does not simply use dramatic interviews to entice its