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Pirated 'Wolverine' Movie Lands Fox News Writer in Hot Water

by Warren Riddle on April 6, 2009 at 02:17 PM



This week, Fox News columnist Roger Friedman provided lecture fodder for journalistic ethics professors everywhere. When news of a pirated copy of 20th-Century Fox's forthcoming 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' recently surfaced (the movie's set to hit the big screen May 1st), comic fans and interested moviegoers began scouring the Web for an early viewing.

Mr. Friedman not only found and watched the advance copy, he decided it would be a good idea to review it, saying, "It took really less than seconds to start playing it all right onto my computer.'" He was pretty brazen about it, saying also that he found all of the "current top 10 [movies in theaters], plus TV shows, commercials, videos, everything, all streaming away." He went on to say, "I could have downloaded all of it but really, who has the time or the room?"



Rupert Murdoch, the Charles Xavier of Fox (or Magneto depending upon your view) and Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, which is part of the Fox conglomerate, vehemently condemned Friedman's tactics, citing a "zero-tolerance" policy for pirated movies. According to the DeadlineDailyHollywood blog, the News Corporation asked Fox News to take down the "reprehensible" column, which it did, and then, after advising Fox News on how to properly handle the situation, promptly dismissed Friedman, according to early reports on Sunday.

As of last night, however, both Gawker and Huffington Post reported that Friedman still had his job, but that disciplinary action was a possibility. ABC News, which originally also wrote that Friedman had been fired, contacted Friedman directly, who said "there was no action taken against me." [Update: Gawker reports that today Friedman was indeed fired.]

Do you think Roger Friedman should have been fired for downloading a pirated movie?
Yes7285 (47.7%)
No7035 (46.1%)
I'm not sure.947 (6.2%)


Perhaps in the future, Friedman will review illegally released movies through a blog, rather than on a Web site owned by the company releasing the film. But then again, maybe he thought it would be alright. We are talking about Rupert Murdoch, after all, who doesn't exactly let accuracy and integrity get in the way of a good story. [From: From DeadlineDailyHollywood and ABC News]

Facebook Crime and Punishment

    Blackmail
    Sending any personal info or incriminating pictures to someone on Facebook is a huge mistake for many reasons. One of the worst possible outcomes is getting blackmailed for money, sex, or, well, anything these sickos dream up. Really, whether they're using a fake profile or not, it's a horrible idea. Read up on the story of an 18-year-old who blackmailed 31 male classmates after he posed as a girl and asked for nude pictures. That's lesson enough.

    Impostors
    Sure, it can be harmless to impersonate a celeb online or create a fake profile for a movie character. But seriously, there's a definite line you shouldn't cross when pretending to be someone else and it can lead to dire consequences for you. Maybe it's not as extreme as the Moroccan man who was jailed for 43 days after creating a fake Facebook profile of a prince, but you never know. Just steer clear of it.

    Self-Incrimination
    Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.

    Suicide
    Social networking sites has been blamed for a lot of things, fairly and unfairly, but in our opinion, the worst offense has been their indirect involvement in suicides. Obviously, there are a lot of factors responsible in each case, but there does seem to be links between social networking and a rash of suicides, and obviously tehre's the case tragic of Megan Meier, who killed herself after a classmate's mom impersonated a teen boy and harassed her over Myspace.

    Murder
    We've reported on numerous incidents of people getting in trouble because of their online behavior. Now, people are becoming victims because of what they're doing on the Web too. In England, a man was convicted of murdering his estranged wife after she changed her relationship status to "single." So, be careful of who can see your profile and what you're doing, no matter how harmless it seems.

    Nigerian Scammers
    Oh, you thought this only happened via poorly worded emails, right? WRONG. Once people got wise to their old ways, these con men are turning to social networking sites for new targets. This time, they're hacking into people's accounts and impersonating them to ask for money, usually with some weird sob story. You can check out a transcript of one of these conversations here.

    Cooperation
    Even if the law isn't on a case, a victim, his friends, or empathetic strangers might be. Since it's easy to get word out for anything online, people are using blogs, forums, and social networking sites to help track down criminals. In one such case, a vehicle thief was tracked down by a bunch of anonymous car enthusiasts after the victim posted his story on a forum. In the end, they identified the guy through his Facebook profile.

    Self-Incrimination
    Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.

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Tags: ethics, fox, fox news, FoxNews, journalism, piracy, roger friedman, RogerFriedman, rupert murdoch, RupertMurdoch, top, xmen

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