Fear & Favor in the Newsroom

As another user noted, this film has much in common with the much longer "Manufacturing Consent." Studs Terkel hosts this hour long documentary about how the US media's corporate backing effectively creates a culture of "self censorship." This is one of those films that should make you angry and motivated to do something. As Jefferson noted, a free press is imperative if democracy is to work.

a convincing documentary exposing bias in the united states' media coverage of events, and reminding us that "controlling interests" are indeed appropriately named. The movie shows how editors dissuade reporters from covering topics touchy to their stockholders and/or owners, how certain stories have been edited to suit those controlling interests better (even on PBS, which is supposedly independent of corporate influence), and how insubordinate editors and reporters are eventually reassigned or dismissed.

for an equally compelling look at media bias, consider Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992).