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Pirated 'Wolverine' Movie Lands Fox News Writer in Hot Water
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.]
| Yes | |
|---|---|
| No | |
| I'm not sure. |
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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Comments
110
Subscribe to commentsJadedkiitenApr 9th 2009 2:31AM
He shouldn't be fired for downloading it he should be fired for being stupid enough to write a review telling people he did.
pullmafingerquikApr 9th 2009 5:56AM
He shouldnt be fired. If anything the movie companies need to get off of their butts and figure out the How and the Who about why their movies are availiable before release on the net. This has been an ongoing thing for quite some time. Maybe his actions will open their eyes and motivate them to do something about it instead of crying the blues.
MerlinApr 9th 2009 10:25AM
Honestly, i just CANT belive its not butter.
So, anyone else notice that all the far-right posts on here got bumped up? And that anyone who CONSIDERED disagreeing with them got shot down.
Yea, you guys are REALLLL open minded..
PaulApr 9th 2009 1:06PM
You right wingers crack me up...your so disconnected, so delusional...you ignore the hard facts that the republicans have destoyed America from the inside out for the last 30 years. During that time the right wing sickos held the vast majority of power and have done nothing but lie, mislead, misinform and perpatrate corruption, hell, it's their track record. Faux news is known throughout the world as a joke, lies, right wing sicko propaganda...polling numbers for people that will even admit they are repukes is hovering around 25%...the repubs are leaderless, rudderless and have zero ideas to do anything but be the party of incompetence, lies and delusion. FAUX news is nothing more than an outlet for GOP paid for liars and extremists...America completly have rejected their platform and ideology and you righties on here regurgitating those lies are nothing more than mice sqeeking in the background as the rest of us fly past you and your idioticy like an eagle. You less than zero credibility, no one cares what you say of do, your nothing more than dumbed down, low iq, easily incitable braindead turds that are ready to be flushed and you know it. So get out of my country, go away to a place where morons are needed.
paulApr 9th 2009 2:25PM
There is less than zero doubt why America is in the shape its in...all one has to do is read the right wing posts on here and its proof positive of their complete and total disconnection from reality and that they are not only delusional but have serious personality disorders. America rejected the republicans the last two elections further more republicans that admit to being republicans is now at around 25%...You right wingers dont realize that you have less than zero credibility, no one wants to hear what you have to say. Your party, the repukes have destroyed this nation from the inside out and idiots like you that are just stupid enough, just dumbed down enough to believe the likes of billo the clown and anything from FAUX news are the reason. News flash right wing morons, FAUX news is an international joke, no one considers it real news and CNN and MSNBC have ten times the credibility of FAUX news on their worst day...and the vast majority of America agrees...Sure maybe they get some people to watch the lies and train wrecks of misinformation the perpatrate but shit draws a lot of flys to. Your party the repukes are dead, they let out the death moan and the only thing left are you right wing dummy hangers on....Your just to stupid to realize just how lost you all are.
chevyfanboyApr 22nd 2009 3:21AM
@Jason: Glad to see somebody sees the truth. How could this be possibly compared to anything that O'Reilly and company have pulled?
KingofDucksApr 23rd 2009 6:10AM
All news outlets in this country are biased. They are all propaganda machines either for the right or the left. And even if a news media outlet manages to avoid political affiliations its still biased in favor of its advertisers.
You want fair and balanced news, well your shit outta luck. Even warching both sides won't give that too you because in the end there is more than two sides to any issue.
JahkalofSilvermoonApr 24th 2009 1:07PM
I think I have finally learned to stop reading the comments on these "news" postings. Why is it that EVERYTHING has to become about politics? Honestly, the original article has nothing about political agendas, propaganda or Liberal vs. Conservative views in it at all! Seriously folks, save your religion and politics for those articles that actually include it.
By the way, I can see that many of those here who incessantly flame out on other people, never took debate classes and/or never learned how to set up a proper argument without resorting to name-calling and faulty logic. After 108 posts, I can see only a few that actually pertain to the matter at hand: A journalist watched an illegal copy of a movie and then, essentially, boasted about it on the net. Concentrate on that fact and you'll be absolutely fine.
thenuttybowlerApr 27th 2009 3:58PM
I think it's amazing that this man only got fired from his job. Everybody knows had this been a young man or woman who downloaded this movie illegally, they would be answering to the FBI right now serving a hefty fine or possibly jailtime. I think its bull$hit that this guy was only repremanded and not brought up on charges. The FBI should make an example out of him that nobody is outside the laws of piracy, nobody can get away with it, not even the media itself.
fishonjohnsonMay 1st 2009 12:00AM
Who gives a crap about a pirated movie? Any and every movie that comes out has a leak. If they don't want there movie pirated then make people sign a death certificate before the do screening and tell them if it leaks you'll be back to claim the body. If you own original DVD's and CD's and want to watch or listen too before you buy then pirate all you want. I never downloaded Metallica and Never cared too either. CNN is all crap.MSNBC.....crap. HLN new?...still crap.CBS ,well I just remember it turning to crap. ABC same as all the above. Then we come to FOX.......and FOX,well FOX freaking rules! FOX speaks VOLUMES and the rest can learn something from them. All sides and all opinions even if you don't want to hear them.