Michael Moore a journalist?
That’s what Moore, the director of the new anti-healthcare industry movie “Sicko,” told Entertainment Weekly. The June 1 issue gave the left’s Leni Riefenstahl a chance to show how he embraces bias and one-sided story telling. “In my case, it’s going to take 20 or 30 years to figure out what I came up with, because while it’s journalism, it’s also satire couple with a large sprinkling of opinion to create a work of art,” said Moore.
His definition of “journalism” showed he embraces the worst of the mainstream media. When asked if he had “an obligation to at least give the insurance companies the chance to say no to you” about an interview, Moore showed his true propaganda colors. “Absolutely not,” he responded. “They already have their forum. It’s called the nightly news. Their story is told over and over again. You never hear the other side.”
Moore is right about the “other side” never getting on the nightly news, but that side is the side of industry. According to a Business & Media Institute analysis of ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts, “nearly 80 percent of the stories excluded the viewpoint of the pharmaceutical industry, failing to include either a company statement or a company spokesman.”
The EW story had a few other tidbits worth noting, including:
The magazine loves it: Big surprise, reviewer Lisa Schwarzbaum gives the movie a “B+” for the “robust clarity of political activism.” She couldn’t resist agreeing with Moore, saying she didn’t want to “divert anyone from the importance of the movie’s serious diagnosis of a national healthcare system in critical condition.”
EW credits Moore with taking “the scalp of a president”: According to the magazine, “He bashed Bush before it was a pastime.” But even author Daniel Fierman admitted about the anti-Bush movie “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “it seems unclear how much of a difference the movie actually made.”
Moore as Harriet Beecher Stowe?: According to Moore, fellow Hollywood lefty Rob Reiner compared “Fahrenheit 9/11” to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” as “one of these moments in American history where a work of art actually impacted things politically.”
Castro the thief: Moore, who took 9/11 workers to Cuba for medical treatment, did complain that the only way his movies show there is because they are “pirated and bootlegged.” “I never had a chance to talk with Castro about the money that he owes me for showing my movies for free.”
Scenes we missed: The article included a short sidebar of six different “scenes to add” that give a more balanced view of U.S. healthcare including how America offers medical care that extends life expectancy, makes life-enhancing drugs, and is promoting the advancement of science.
Propaganda films: Another sidebar listed “ten documentaries that changed things” and included the famous Riefenstahl film glorifying Adolf Hitler called “Triumph of the Will.” At least Moore is in appropriate company.
