Here’s an admonition for any aspiring journalists who’ve happened upon this piece. Don’t ever write anything like what I’ve linked to here. Profanity-filled tirade to follow so stop reading now if you’re the sensitive sort.
What we have with this piece of shit article is not news. It’s a reporter entirely basing his analysis on the anonymous quotes of two meat industry lobbyists. If, as a reporter, you’re going to quote people anonymously, they better not have a dog in the fight. Yet not only are these lobbyists quoted anonymously, their self-serving analysis forms the backbone of this article.
So what’s going on here? Why are these lobbyists offering anonymous quotes to the reporter? Because, being on the meat industry’s payroll, they’ve got an obvious agenda to kill Tom Vilsack’s efforts to toughen meat labeling requirements. And here’s how they’re doing it: they’re working behind the scenes to spread rumors that improved meat labeling requirements will kick off a trade war with Canada. If these lobbyists pulled this crap in public, their influence with the USDA would be over.
This is just cowardly and disgusting in so many ways. These are paid meat industry flacks, being given an anonymous platform by Reuters to undercut consumer-friendly regulations. Unreal. Link.
