This film should be required viewing for all U.S. voters for they will understand just how insidious, wide ranging and effective the right wing media machine (e.g., Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk radio etc.)has been on the cultural landscape for the past 20 years.

Beyond the expected debunking of what we know is a sham -- Fox New's "Fair and Balanced" misreporting and Limbaugh's outlandish comments -- Ms. Senko's film takes us beyond the dictated talking points of Fox President's Roger Ailes to something much deeper and chilling.

The skill of these propagandists and their toxic effect on ordinary citizens (as seen through the lens of her own father) is an eye opener. The ending was especially moving. See it for yourself.

This documentary explores the impact that the right-wing media has had upon American politics and culture with one particular family being showcased in detail. In essence, due to certain restraints being removed from radio and television broadcasting, a newly energized brand of conservative populism was unleashed-first on talk radio, and then on television with Fox News. To that effect, the more heated dialogue resulted in more anger among the viewers which in turn caused even more heated dialogue and thereby even more anger. This divisiveness was then used by the Republican Party to secure gains in the elections at both the local, state and national level which has resulted in policy initiatives intended to benefit that particular party to the exclusion of everybody else. Now rather than revealing any more I will just say that the main points brought out in this documentary are factually correct--as is the damage brought upon this nation because of the resulting bitterness, anger and hatred. Unfortunately, although this film reveals several problems the right-wing media has created, what it fails to do is to provide an answer to any of them. Along with that, there were times when the overall theme seemed to lose focus as it drifted from one family dynamic to another. Likewise, I also thought that the childish tone on the part of the narrator was completely unnecessary as well. In any case, while certainly not a top-level documentary, this film does a good job of bringing to light a definite problem here in America and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

I felt torn after watching this flick. On one hand, it's a not-half-bad way to get introduced to the history and methods of right-wing media. For my money, Manufacturing Consent is better, but "Brainwashing" gets some of the job done, fairly effectively.

But something niggled at me after watching. I needed time to further metabolize my experience and nail down my remonstrances. Luckily, my subconscious mind did it's usual dependable voodoo, and I feel I can now tell you what it is that takes some "stars" away from my rating.

It's this: The movie fails to show the real cure for what it was that ailed the titular Dad of this story.

It ends by describing how the family eventually weaned "Dad" away from right-wing media, and toward more positive social/civic messaging. And, by story's end, Dad seems to have brightened up and appears to be in a better place.

But... why does this not feel like a happy resolution/"positive takeaway" for me?

It fails because it doesn't show the true cure for what ailed Dad. The true cure is an abiding, (small-'r') republican concern for decent governance. These days, I would call this a healthy, life-affirming stoicism. At the beginning of the story the Dad is a dupe for negative emotional oversimplification; at the end he's dupe for positive emotional oversimplification.

The name of the game is to not be a dupe, of *any* stripe.

I remember when I first heard Rush Limbaugh. I heard him for about 20 minutes on a commute to an office gig, driving an old Dodge Colt that only had AM radio. I found him entertaining enough on that first exposure. So I turned him on again on my next commute. It was either on that second exposure, or maybe by my third, that my stoic self sat up and took notice: Rush had no real civic sensibility. I eventually would have needed to hear that he had his feet solidly on the ground of civic engagement and factual awareness. But I began to notice that his exposition was like a swiss cheese riddled with holes, where those holes are various and sundry dodges and tricks of emotional oversimplification that I was supposed to metabolize as an abiding concern for the American republic, but which I recognized for the sham they were. I probably didn't listen to him a fourth time, done with him after a week.

The film can't give us an image of a Dad who's become more truly circumspect and stoically engaged with the world around him... which is what's fundamental to the promise of sustainable (small-'r') republicanism. It can't give us that image probably because the Dad never figures that out.

Not the best resolution to the key issue, by my way of evaluating these things.

Which is why I can't really recommend this movie, or might give it a hedged recommendation.

I recommend the writings of Chomsky and Herman if you want to understand how right-wing media works. As mentioned above, the Canadian production of the "Manufacturing Consent" movie is a pretty decent way to get a fairly comprehensive overview of the issues broached by the book(s).