In other news, the sky is blue: "Outfoxed"

So the in-laws visited this weekend, which meant two things:
1. No blogging time for yours truly until now.
2. The danger of awkward political discussions.

You see, her folks voted for everyone's favorite W last year ... and in 2000, too. No question they're in the "Bush is like me/a real patriot" camp, which tends to flummox me and the missus, especially since he's a union guy. That's why I usually just ask them about the weather. Much safer that way.

Of course, that didn't keep me from zipping through Democrats' second-favorite documentary of '04, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." Watched this Thursday night, and the timing also was good with me recently getting back into the world of journalism myself.

So what did I really learn about Fox News? Not much that I didn't already know, it turns out. Believe it or not, this "fair and balanced" cable news channel tends to be a little biased, and not toward Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. Another thing: "We Report, You Decide" really means "We Don't Report, You Listen to Us Yell." While this wasn't a surprise, it was worth seeing how this guy Robert Greenwald made his case, especially after giving the world "Xanadu" and "The Burning Bed."

Greenwald trots out a lot of former Fox News employees, and even if you write off some as sour grapes, many come across as articulate and with no ax to grind other than their dismay at how a decent job could go bad based on naked bias. No question there were plenty of days when they had to work with one hand because they were holding their noses with the other, and Greenwald offers plenty of examples through solid interviews and editing. Not that Bill O'Reilly needs any help looking like an ass with an agenda.

True, the movie trots out Al Franken, which doesn't exactly promise a measured view on Fox News. And the "Call to Action" at the end, with "Layla" playing in the background, is a bit much. But some stuff is compelling. For instance, the way O'Reilly berates a kid who lost his dad in 9/11 yet has the gall to oppose the war in Iraq. The nerve! Also solid is research by the group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, which found that Fox News programs include Democrats as guests as often as they do juggling cats. (Not to be confused with cat jugglers.)

Probably the most damning evidence of conservative bias was a Fox reporter who covered the 2000 presidential campaign ... and whose wife actively campaigned for Bush. Somehow Greenwald got hold of footage between the reporter, Carl Cameron, and Bush before an interview, in which the two talk openly about Cameron's wife and her campaigning. It really did seem like Bush knew he not only got a pass from Fox News, but could pretty much tell them what to say. "Um, Carl, you really should take off that Bush-Cheney campaign button before we go live ... "