Just watched Outfoxed (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it). There are no surprises in the movie, it’s obviously very opposed to the Fox approach to News, and casts Rupert Murdoch in a bad light in general. Hoop-a-dee-doo. Everyone knows Fox is completely biased, and their claims to be “fair and balanced” are laughable.

Now, it seems there are requests underway to bring Fox News to Canada. At first I was all for it — let’s let Canadians watch Fox News all they want; they’ll stop once that inevitable feeling of nausea strikes — but now I’m not sure. That is, I think they should still be able to broadcast in Canada, but I firmly believe that they should not be able to call themselves a news channel. The CRTC should monitor it, and every other network with a serious news broadcast, and force them to report objectively. Of course, this won’t be perfect; we don’t want bureaucrats watching each station, holding stopwatches to see which party gets the most airtime. Instead, typical organizing principles of news gathering bodies should be observed; if they’re not held to, the network loses the right to call itself a “news” organization. For example, any “news” organization where edicts are issued from upper management to the news department, research and on-air talent directing the tone and message of what’s reported would lose the ability to call themselves an objective news reporting organization.

I guess it follows that, since overly political broadcasts aren’t allowed outside of election ads, that network might lose its license. So be it. Do what you profess to do or be exposed as liars. Lying liars, in this case.