Corporate Media *Untells* the ALEC Story [View all]

[annabanana]

http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/07/03/corporate-media-untells-the-alec-story/

Independent media outlets have basically owned the ALEC story over the past few years. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a corporate-sponsored "bill mill" that works with state legislatures to pass the kinds of laws corporations want. Thanks to investigations in Mother Jones, the Nation, Extra! and continued attention from the likes of AlterNet and ThinkProgress, a group that prefers to work in the shadows has been exposed to a harsh spotlight. And the group doing much of the hard work to expose ALEC–the Center for Media & Democracy–has pushed many of the group's corporate backers to bail out.

So that's the ALEC story in the independent media. What does it look like in the hands of the corporate media? CBS Evening News gave us a look on June 30. And it sure isn't pretty.

CBS anchor Lee Cowan introduced the piece by noting, "Critics complain that ALEC is a corporate-backed bill mill. ALEC calls itself the defender of free markets and smaller government."

To help settle that dispute between ALEC and its many critics, correspondent Mark Strassmann talked to only one source: Chip Rogers, who just so happens to be ALEC's national treasurer and the Georgia State Senate majority leader. So Rogers could, without challenge, tell the group's story of beleaguered corporations that must "continually look over their shoulders to protect themselves from an onerous government."

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