Outfoxed

Outfoxed is a documentary film by filmmaker Robert Grennwald. In this film he criticizes the Fox New Channel and its owner Ruper Murdoch by giving examples and showing past clips of news that clearly show that the news channels views are biased towards the right-wing and they sell these biased views to the audience.

Media is our source of knowing what’s happening in the world around us. It is supposed to be the unbiased reporter of news to the public, a mere communicator or transporter of the news. Yet, unethical practices have crept into this system, and now it has become a moneymaking business.

In this documentary, we see that the Fox News Channel portrays its news in a very biased way, favoring the right party. They manipulate their news while presenting it to swing the news in favor of the Republicans. For instance, during a panel discussion, they would call more prominent Republican leaders than prominent Democrat leaders, while ensuring that the total number of representatives in the panel from both sides is equal. This shifts the discussion in the favor of Republicans, as they have an edge with higher number of influential people in the panel, while the Fox channel can still claim an unbiased behavior on its part.

This documentary also makes us question the media at large, beyond just this one channel. Media has become a business now, and the only news that every new channel presents, is the news that will sell, the news that will bring more number of viewers, the news that will bring profits. So what if you were the first one in your neighborhood to be nominated for a noble prize, the local news channel has better things to cover. 

Branding at the UIC Campus

UIC is one of the most diverse campuses in Illinois. We have people from different ethnicities, different races, different religions and different social backgrounds. It’s amazing that in spite of these differences, there are a lot of commonalities between the students in their style of dressing or the Brands that they wear.

In the current winter months, the most common brand to be seen around campus is North Face. I feel that most people wear North Face to be part of the big community that accepts North Face as a reputed producer of quality winter wear. Also, a lot of students are seen wearing UIC merchandize, sharing their identity as a UIC Student with pride. Wearing UIC merchandize is also an attempt of people to become a part of the community of students here. It’s like sending a message that says – “I am proud to be here and to be a part of this University’s community. Therefore, accept me as your own.”

Some other trends that we can observe on the Campus are that most people wear either jeans or sweat pants. It’s a part of the casual identity of a college going student that is represented through this. It’s again a factor that makes the students naturally blend in the crowd.

Even though the backgrounds of all the students are very diverse, the common age group plays a huge role in this commonality in dressing. As a young adult going to college, each one of us wants to look cool, casually yet prettily dressed and be a part of the student group by just the way we look.