Outfoxed makes no pretense about its agenda.

The movie, distributed by MoveOn.org, supports a complaint the group filed against Fox News with the Federal Trade Commission. That complaint alleges the channel uses “deceptive practices in the advertising and marketing of cable television programming” through its slogan “fair and balanced.”

The group’s filing with the FTC belies excellent showmanship. Mostly organized, left-of-center believers have needed an effective organization at the national level - a focus - for some time.

FTC officials dismissed it summarily. “There is no way to evaluate this petition without evaluating the content of the news at issue. That is a task the First Amendment leaves to the American people, not a government agency,” Chairman Timothy J. Muris published in response.

For Muris, it’s an obvious call. It’s also the right call.

Still, Outfoxed does have good points. The “fear and consumption” concept is solid ground. Outpourings of reporting resources on crime and trivial environmental health issues scare viewers into buying security (in whatever indulgent form they find it).

Fox News, in my own experience, does rely too much on the weak “some say” crutch. MoveOn has a valid criticism. Good interviewers would avoid putting such a puny twig under a weighty inquiry. Read these aloud, and hear the difference:

Some say you had sexual relations with that woman, Mr. President.

Mr. President, did you have sexual relations with that woman?

The former absolves the speaker of the responsibility, and consequences, of having asked a question. The latter is how a responsible journalist asks a question, confident in the fact that his or her research already uncovered the answer.

Which leads me to the second point I took from Outfoxed: that opinion can’t be proven wrong. Or, more to the point, you can defend opinion with rhetoric, but facts have to be defended with sources.

That, for me, offers the main reason to tune out Fox News. I see a lot of flashy graphics and video. The only substances I feel are anger and xenophobia coming through their interviewers and paid analysts.

MoveOn has in the past put donors’ cash to innovative use, mainly through witty and intelligent ad spots. But this guerrilla film, though clever and entertaining for the sympathetic mind, is the easy fight and the wrong fight. MoveOn should put some of its vast resources to work educating news consumers. Give supporters entertainment, but leave them with a better idea of how to recognize good and bad journalism.

As Chairman Muris said, this is a task “the First Amendment leaves to the American people, not a government agency.”