April, 19 2017, 03:00pm EDT
Activist-Driven Advertiser Boycott a Key Factor in O'Reilly's Demise
Color Of Change and others pressured O’Reilly advertisers behind the scenes and publicly to drop their ads, resulting in 77 corporations dropping “The Factor” in the past 3 weeks
WASHINGTON
A campaign demanding that advertisers boycott Bill O'Reilly led by Color Of Change, the racial justice organization with more than one million members, played a critical role in pressuring Fox News to fire Bill O'Reilly. Over the past three weeks, dozens of advertisers have dropped O'Reilly's show, as Color Of Change's led a high-profile pressure campaign calling on corporations to reject the former host's history of racism and sexism.
"This victory belongs to all those who O'Reilly has victimized, and those who have demanded that the corporations that sponsor his show put their money where their values are and pull their spots. Thanks to that pressure, Bill O'Reilly will no longer be a menace on-air or in the halls of Fox News's headquarters," said Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of Color Of Change. "Bill O'Reilly has spent years spewing racism and harassing women. Today, his reign of hate and abuse comes to an end."
Following new revelations this month about Bill O'Reilly history of sexual harassment, Color Of Change launched a campaign demanding that "O'Reilly Factor" advertisers pull their spots from the show. Continuing a campaign started in 2015 in response to O'Reilly's racism, Color Of Change called on current sponsors of "The Factor" to align their ad buys with their own corporate values. Over the last two years Color Of Change has been in direct communication behind the scenes with 100 advertisers, including formerly major sponsors who dropped the show like Nutrisystem and General Motors.
Color Of Change also launched a petition to pressure advertisers, which was signed by 340,000 people. With sources inside Fox News citing loss of ad revenue as a central reason for firing O'Reilly, Color Of Change's campaign--following the same model that Color Of Change used to push Glenn Beck off the air in 2011, escalating from behind-the-scenes pressure on companies to public pressure if companies did not drop their ads --was instrumental in getting O'Reilly off the air.
"Fox News and the Murdochs only listen when they hear the sound of money rushing out the door," said Robinson. "If dozens of advertisers had not dropped 'The Factor,' Bill O'Reilly would still be endangering 21st Century Fox employees."
In addition to directly pressuring advertisers, Color Of Change has also:
- Submitted a briefing to the British media regulator Ofcom, urging them to investigate harassment at 21st Century Fox before approving the company's acquisition of European media giant Sky plc. The precarity of the Sky deal has been widely cited as a reason for O'Reilly's termination.
- Held protests outside Fox News headquarters.
- Geo-targeted Fox News headquarters and affiliates with digital ads that share a phone number to confidentially report harassment.
But Color Of Change cautions that the fight for a fair workplace at Fox News is hardly over.
"While today is an important victory, it hardly absolves Fox News of its decades of racism and sexism," said Robinson. "Fox News didn't clean up its act after Roger Ailes was fired, and it won't just because O'Reilly was fired. We'll continue to demand accountability from the Murdochs."
For years, Color Of Change has challenged Bill O'Reilly's hateful speech and actions. In 2015 the organization called on advertisers to pull their spots from O'Reilly's show after he fabricated a story about being attacked by protestors while covering the 1992 Los Angeles riot. In 2010, Color of Change called on businesses to stop showing Fox News in public settings in response to O'Reilly's deceptive editing of then-USDA employee Shirley Sherrod's remarks to the NAACP.
In 2009, Color Of Change led a campaign that eventually forced Glenn Beck off-air, developing their unique inside/outside playbook for pressuring advertisers to pull spots from Beck's show. As the New York Times reported, Color Of Change was able to organize hundreds of thousands to demand Fox News drop Beck, and as a result more than 300 advertisers dropped their spots before Fox News cancelled his show.
Color Of Change is the nation's largest online racial justice organization. We help people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by over one million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America.
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Democrat Eva Burch Shares With Arizona Senate Her Plans to Get an Abortion
"I stand with those who have had to grapple with and navigate Arizona's restrictive laws surrounding abortion," the state senator said. "I'm with them. I appreciate them. I am them."
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As Arizonans prepare for a potential vote on an abortion rights ballot measure, Democratic state Sen. Eva Burch on Monday took to the chamber's floor to announce that she plans to terminate her current pregnancy, explain why, and condemn harmful restrictions.
"A few weeks ago, I learned that against all odds, I am pregnant," said Burch (D-9). "Many of you know that I've had kind of a rough journey with fertility. I had my first miscarriage more than 13 years ago, and I have been pregnant many times. Since then, twice, I was lucky enough to successfully carry to term and I have two beautiful healthy little boys."
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"My experiences in this space, both as a provider and as a patient, have led me to believe that this Legislature has failed the people of Arizona."
Burch, who has worked as an emergency nurse and a nurse practitioner in a women's health clinic, stressed that "I don't think people should have to justify their abortions but I'm choosing to talk about why I made this decision because I want us to be able to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work that we do in this body impacts people in the real world."
After acknowledging some of the risks of pregnancy and that she accepted them to carry her two sons, she said: "I don't know how many of you have been unfortunate enough to experience a miscarriage before but I am not interested in going through it unnecessarily. And right now, the safest and most appropriate treatment for me and the treatment that I choose is abortion."
The Democrat then took aim at the Arizona Legislature for passing laws that restrict access to care for people like her. The state bans most abortions after 15 weeks, imposes a 24-hour waiting period between in-person counseling containing misinformation and the procedure, and forces patients to get medically unnecessary ultrasounds.
Detailing her trip to an abortion clinic on Friday, Burch said:
I didn't have an ultrasound because my doctor thought I needed one. I had one because legislation has forced me to do that, an invasive transvaginal ultrasound that I didn't want or need to have, performed by someone who didn't want to have to do it. I am safe and loved and protected in my marriage. But I cannot imagine how inappropriate that would be for a victim of sexual assault or for someone who has an abusive or coercive relationship with their partner—another unwanted vaginal penetration, but this time by the state, by the people who are commissioned to protect us.
Then I got to sit through an exhaustive list of absolute disinformation that was read off to me. I was told that there were alternatives to abortion, parenting or adoption among them, as if delivering a healthy baby is an option for me. It is not. My medical provider was forced to tell me multiple things that don't apply to my situation, and some that are just transparently factually false. And they do this because of laws passed by this Legislature in opposition to medical expert testimony and advice. From where I sat, the only reason I had to hear those things was in a cruel and really uninformed attempt by outside forces to shame and coerce and frighten me into making a different decision other than the one that I knew was right for me.
Burch explained that "the last time that I had an abortion, I started to miscarry that night before it was scheduled to take place. And I was denied a procedure in the hospital because I was deemed not critical enough, in spite of the fact that my embryo had died, and that my miscarriage had stalled."
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The lawmaker got an abortion at the clinic the following day—just two weeks before the right-wing majority of the U.S. Supreme Court reversedRoe v. Wade in June 2022, setting off a new wave of efforts by state legislators to pass forced-pregnancy legislation.
Burch highlighted some negative impacts of being denied an abortion—from heightened risks of domestic violence and eviction to long-term health consequences. She also noted the "sensitive feelings surrounding pregnancy" and "philosophical questions that people cannot agree on," while stressing that decisions should be made by patients and providers.
"My experiences in this space, both as a provider and as a patient, have led me to believe that this Legislature has failed the people of Arizona, in the laws that restrict and dictate abortion and in the resources that it cuts and strangles and denies at every opportunity," she said of her time in the state Senate. "Our decision-making should be grounded in expert testimony and in consensus from both the medical community and from constituents, and free from political posturing and partisan bias, but that's not what I see happening."
"So I truly hope that Arizonans have the opportunity to weigh in on abortion on the ballot in November. We know that the majority of Arizonans support the right to abortion and if we can't operate in that reality in this chamber, then it is critical that everyone have the opportunity for their voices to be heard elsewhere," she concluded. "I stand with those who have had to grapple with and navigate Arizona's restrictive laws surrounding abortion at a time when the decisions being made were complicated enough. I'm with them. I appreciate them. I am them."
Among those who praised her 10-minute speech was Sam Paisley, national press secretary of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which works to elect state lawmakers in the party.
"Arizona Sen. Eva Burch sharing her decision to get an abortion is the epitome of courage," said Paisley. "No woman should have to go through the emotional and physical hurdles she described—Arizona Republicans have passed unnecessary burdens on abortion care that put women in danger. Sen. Burch's story is powerful, but it is sadly not unique—patients across Arizona have to jump through hoops to get the care they need."
"There are very real, and sometimes even deadly, consequences to the attacks on reproductive freedom that Republicans across the country have launched," Paisley added. "The DLCC commends Sen. Burch for her advocacy and stands ready to defeat alarming GOP extremism in state legislatures in Arizona and across the country."
Jodi Liggett, founder of the Arizona Center for Women's Advancement, similarly said on social media: "Today, Sen. Eva Burch shared her heart-wrenching story of nonviable pregnancy. AZ laws... have complicated her access to care. Her situation is one of thousands; personal and complicated. Conservatives, butt out and let patients and doctors handle these decisions. Privately."
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