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Political rhetoric isn't reserved for politicians anymore. Robert Greenwald's documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism challenges the Fox News Channel's trademarked slogan of presenting "fair and balanced" coverage.
"We report, you decide," the network commands daily with dramatic graphics soaked in patriotic images. Greenwald's movie claims that Fox personalities - not just pit bull pundits Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, but also supposedly objective journalists - have already decided President Bush should be re-elected.
Now, the film accuses, Fox News Channel wants to make up everyone else's minds.
Outfoxed makes its case with Fox News Channel's own footage, culled from weeks of constant monitoring to detect patterns of conservative bias. Former Fox employees, only three speaking anonymously, detail directives from their ex-bosses intended to promote such an agenda. Journalists, including news anchor legend Walter Cronkite, weigh in on Fox's tactics with unanimous distaste.
"One of the things that Fox does that conservatives do is: They don't have to win every argument," said James Wolcott, cultural critic for Vanity Fair. "But if they can muddy the argument enough, if they can turn it into a draw, that to them is a victory, because they deny the other side a victory."
Sometimes it's done passively, the film declares, in the way Fox News Channel cloaks itself in patriotic images while graphics take digs at Democratic Party candidate John Kerry and glorify Bush. Other times it's more aggressive, as when O'Reilly shouts down dissenting views, including those of Jeremy Glick, son of a World Trade Center attack victim, whose words were subsequently twisted to traitorous proportions.
At times it's achieved through possible conflicts of interest, such as Bush's first cousin, John Ellis, in the control room on election night, declaring his kin the winner. Senior reporter Carl Cameron is shown chatting about his wife's work on the president's 2000 campaign before switching gears for an Oval Office interview.
Such links stretch all the way up the chain of command. Fox News Channel chairman Roger Ailes was formerly a media strategist for the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. The latter was a close friend of Murdoch, who counts the channel among his media holdings, which reach three-fourths of the world's population.
At other times, it's done with sleight of hand: Unknown liberals are invited to argue with conservative heavyweights, or Hannity's all-American good looks are paired against the appearance of liberal Alan Colmes, described as "squirrelly-looking" by one media analyst. By using these strategies, Fox News Channel can claim fairness while tilting the playing field, the film says.
Most damningly, it's done through interoffice memos from senior vice president for news John Moody, steering the day's reportage away from anything damaging to Republicans or bolstering to Democrats. And always with a rose-colored, conservative spin on national issues.
"This is not "what did he know and when did he know it' stuff," Moody wrote on March 23 while the congressional 9/11 Commission convened. "Do not turn this into Watergate. Remember the fleeting sense of national unity that emerged from this tragedy. Let's not desecrate that."
Fox News Channel's official response to Outfoxed was a statement released in July that branded the former employees used in the film as incompetent and claimed copyright infringement. On an individual level, O'Reilly described Outfoxed as "rank propaganda" and "the distorted work of an ultra-liberal filmmaker."
If so, Greenwald isn't the only one. Outfoxed is part of a small filmmaking movement intended to influence voters in 2004, mostly against Bush. Whether Greenwald or the genre's 800-pound gorilla, Michael Moore, do it in a fair and balanced way is, like everything else on the campaign trail, a partisan decision. No consensus will emerge on which side is fighting fire with fire first.
However, enough curious material is presented in documentaries like Outfoxed, Control Room, Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential and, of course, Fahrenheit 9/11 to give voters pause. One key strength in a democracy is the right to doubt authorities, whether it's government officials shaping American culture or media outlets and artists defining it.
This year's political climate is so heated and complex, with so much at stake, that relying upon any single source - the White House, Greenwald, Moore or Fox News Channel - isn't enough to promote informed voting decisions.
That's why listeners of WMNF-FM 88.5 urged the community radio station to sponsor two Wednesday screenings of Outfoxed at Sunrise Cinemas in Tampa. Unlike Fahrenheit 9/11, the movie doesn't have a distribution deal for theatrical release. More than 100,000 DVD copies have reportedly been purchased, and Outfoxed was recently the No. 2 seller on Amazon.com.
Instead of a red carpet premiere, the DVD debuted in July at house parties coordinated across the nation by MoveOn.org. WMNF public affairs and news director Rob Lorei arranged Wednesday's screenings in response to listeners who weren't invited to those house parties and wanted to see Greenwald's documentary.
"We have a relationship with the producers that goes back to other films," said Lorei. "Greenwald's previous film was Uncovered (The Whole Truth About the Iraq War). We showed that (at Sunrise) and bought a lot of copies for giveaways during our fund drive. We had 600 people at two showings."
Before that, Greenwald produced Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election, asserting that the presidency was in effect stolen by Republicans through Florida's balloting fiasco. WMNF's handling of that issue and Greenwald's films impressed co-producer Kathyrn McArdle, who gave the station permission to show Outfoxed as a one-night fundraiser.
"This isn't for a political group or a candidate," said Lorei. "It's just for the radio station."
A recent survey of WMNF listeners indicated that Outfoxed plays to the station's widest audience.
"Although we have a substantial number of Republicans, Libertarians and independents, a huge number of our listeners turn out to be Democrats and Greens," said Lorei. "Of those five groups, I think the independents and Libertarians might want to come see this, along with the Democrats and Greens you expect. The Republicans might be a little more reluctant."
So far, only filmmakers critical of the Bush administration have reached wide audiences. Next month in Dallas, the first American Film Renaissance festival will present a slate of conservative-minded cinema that includes the premiere of Michael Moore Hates America and Michael & Me, two documentaries taking the Fahrenheit 9/11 creator to task.
"The festival will highlight that America is home, not to a nation of idiots as Michael Moore asserts," reads a statement on the festival Web site (www.afrfilmfestival.com) "Rather, it is home to those who seek freedom and opportunity, a home to those who love liberty and embrace excellence."
Lorei said WMNF would consider such films for presentation under certain conditions.
"There has been a lot of buzz about those films on the Internet, but I have yet to have a single e-mail from listeners saying we should bring in these films," said Lorei. "If those films try to create understanding, don't try to divide people, I think we certainly would.
"It isn't like we wouldn't show a conservative film. Our mission talks about peace, social justice and trying to create understanding among people. I don't think Fox News Channel attempts to do that."
AT A GLANCE
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism will be shown Wednesday at 7:30 and 9:15 p.m. at Sunrise Cinemas, 1609 W Swann Ave., Tampa. Tickets are $8, available only at the box office. The event benefits WMNF-FM 88.5 community radio. Call (813) 238-8001 for information.