Fox just hates boycotts... or at least they do if they're aimed at the likes of Rush Limbaugh, or the American Legislative Exchange Council, otherwise known as ALEC. Then they really hate anyone interfering with their favorite right wing flame thrower, or with these corporations' "freedom of speech," or their freedom to intervene in our legislative agenda to keep their profit margins up.
Now that it appears Coca-Cola has decided to leave the organization after pressure from Color of Change and other progressive groups, Fox News is out there doing some damage control for ALEC.
What I find humorous about this is I'm pretty sure Fox would prefer that no one even knows who ALEC and their organization are. I'm fairly sure they'd have preferred, as would those who are working for the Koch brothers funded organization, that their name, their agenda or how they operate would never be mentioned in our corporate media. They're worried about some real fallout if they're finally resorting to putting a spokesperson on air.
Here's more from Media Matters on Kelly's interview -- Fox Rushes To Defend ALEC After Coca-Cola Cuts Ties With Group:
Coca-Cola, one of its corporate sponsors, has cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) after advocacy group Color of Change had called for a boycott of Coca-Cola due to its ties with ALEC. And Fox hasn't wasted much time coming to ALEC's defense.
As the Huffington Post reported:
The soft-drink company has severed its tieswith the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a conservative lobbying group that drafts legislation and sends it out to lawmakers. ALEC's fingerprints have been found on bills and laws in a number of states, and the group's opponents have grown resistant to what they call ALEC's efforts to shape the legislative agenda in a way that harms minority and low-income voters.
[...]
On Wednesday, the advocacy group Color of Change called for a boycott of Coca-Cola, one of the companies that sits on ALEC's elite Private Enterprise Board, citing ALEC's efforts to get voter ID laws passed.
In response, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly interviewed ALEC communications director Kaityln Buss to discuss Coca-Cola's departure. Did Kelly ask about funding ALEC receives from the controversial Koch brothers? Did Kelly ask why ALEC was pushing for voter ID laws in the absence of evidence of voter fraud? Did Kelly ask about ALEC pushing the "Stand Your Ground" laws that have become infamous in the wake of the Trayvon Martin case?
No. She just provided a platform for ALEC to paint itself as innocuous.
You can read the rest of their post for transcript of Kelly's interview above.
