| As you read this column, I am attending the annual meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. This meeting literally brings together every single voice – radio, television and Internet – that is broadcasting agricultural and rural news. When you walk around the press room you can hear broadcasters doing their programs from all over the country. The variety of styles, accents and story angles is truly amazing. Also circling the newsroom are the “sharks.” These are people looking to get interviewed on the radio. They move from booth to booth selling themselves and their story to any reporter who will listen. What is even sadder than this informational prostitution is the number of journalists who do the interviews. The dirty little secret of the American media, both farm and non farm, is that we can all be bought; and sometimes the price is very low.
While traveling to this meeting, I read the book Arrogance by Bernard Goldberg. In it, he discusses the issue of bias in the media. He makes that case that most big time media is arrogant and not willing to admit they are biased. I agree with Goldberg that all media is biased – sometimes intentionally, much more often unintentionally. I cannot speak for those who intentionally slant the news, but I can speak to the issue of unintentional bias.
At this convention is an event called Trade Talk. This is one of the strangest trade shows in the world. In a large hotel ballroom, every major agricultural company in the U.S. has a display. Also every major, and some minor, farm groups also have displays. At each display is a spokesperson, and some have two. Reporters then run the gauntlet, moving through the room interviewing spokesperson after spokesperson.
Some reporters go for numbers, trying to get as many interviews as they can; others of us are more selective making interview decisions based on content and relevance to our audience. Most of these interviews wind up on the air in some form and become part of the fabric of farm news.
Why does such a thing exist? Convenience. It is a convenient way for us as reporters to get information from a large and varied industry group and a way for companies and organizations to reach a national farm media audience. This is not unique but occurs in other industries, sports, and the entertainment business. I see nothing wrong with this kind of informational gathering. What does concern me is the voices that are missing from gatherings like this.
In a perfect world, we would all have the time and resources to make sure everyone who wanted to be heard got heard. The reality is far different. I, and most of the agricultural communicators I know and work with do our best to serve the informational needs of our audience and to deliver fair, balanced, and accurate information. According to Goldberg, much of the mainstream media take a different approach. They feel they know what is best for their audience to know and, thus, only give them the information that fits that perspective.
This is why there are certain groups and individuals you will never see on network television or read about in the New York Times. This is also why other groups and individuals seem to appear in print or on the tube with regularity. This explains why agriculture usually gets represented so poorly in the media. Most big city reporters just don’t think it is important. Until agriculture can find a way to reach the editors and reporters who write and report the news, American consumers are never going to get the straight story about the food they eat. Most non farm reporters do not feel the farmer’s perspective is important and aren’t going to leave their comfort zone to head to the country to get the story.
This is why consumers should listen to farm radio and read Farm World to get a perspective on food, energy, and the environment that they are not going to get from their regular media sources. |
