How Journalists Got The USDA-Promoted Cheese Story Wrong

The Atlantic:

On November 7, The New York Times ran a front-page story by Michael Moss exposing what appears to be yet another sinister example of bureaucratic hypocrisy in the tainted world of food regulation. The USDA, according to Moss, has assumed the contradictory role of warning Americans against a high-fat diet while, at the same time, promoting the consumption of heart-clogging cheese products. Worse, as Moss implies, American taxpayers are the ones funding this corporate-friendly doublespeak.

Michael Moss is an ace reporter. His work on the meat industry for the Times has been unmatched. I'm a fan. In the case of this cheese story, though, Moss obscured an important point, one that dampens the outrage you might have felt if you'd received Michael Pollan's tweet that "our tax dollars [are] at work promoting Domino's Pizza."

Read the whole story

Comments

[SAVEME]

09:55 AM on 11/21/2010

But how did Domino's get in there and not Papa John's, or Pizza Hut?

[Ozark Homesteader]

11:07 AM on 11/19/2010

McWilliams is as illogical about the USDA cheese story as he is in his book criticizing locavores. The "voluntary" tax is "enforced" by the USDA and presumably passed on to consumers in higher dairy product prices. Americans are still getting taxed to promote cheese, even if it's an indirect tax.

(McWilliams in his book says that locavore eating is bad because it costs a lot to grow a local tomorrow in the north in the winter. His faulty logic assumes that locavores don't eat seasonally. Most do eat seasonally.)
http://ozarkhomesteader.wordpress.com/

[RedRat]

05:23 PM on 11/19/2010

I have a news flash for you, there are similar associations for the beef industry, poultry industry, fish industry, and of course for other farm commodities. The USDA doesn't "enforce" it in the sense of a policeman enforcing traffic laws. It collects the money on the sales of cheese and then distributes the money to the associations. These are basically marketing associations.

[SusanElizabeth1949]

10:42 PM on 11/19/2010

Oranges and Raisins have them too.

[breakfast]

11:34 AM on 11/20/2010

Of course there are similar programs for other industries. We all know that. It doesn't make the practice right or fair. And they still all add up to massive corporate welfare, no matter how much spin is put on the deal.

These are the same people continually braying about the free market and how it must be allowed to operate unfettered.......but take every opportunity to prey on the taxpayers by feeding at the public trough.

[padrushka]

03:40 AM on 11/19/2010

usda is sleazy so who cares and since when do we expect truth in reporting?

[henrypapillon]

10:56 PM on 11/18/2010

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned investigative reporting.

[janie@atthelake]

03:08 PM on 11/19/2010

........and this is why I fanned you a long time ago henry. Spot on target as usual. Thank you.

[BluebirdofUnhappiness]

09:15 PM on 11/18/2010

Oh dear. Where's all the outrage now?

[janie@atthelake]

03:09 PM on 11/19/2010

.........Probably dead with the article Huff posted about Obama agreeing to the bush tax cuts for the rich. (think that one when up to 20,000+ comments blue... (love your AV btw)

[goodmarina]

05:43 PM on 11/18/2010

What ... the Press deliberate mislead a story?    Why ... I never!!!  (feigning great indignation)  

didn't Huffington Post run this as a front page lead story last week?

i love the fact that these so-called seasoned reporters are appalled by government subsidies.  where is the umbrage regarding the hundreds of millions oil companies receive in annual federal subsidies.

can anyone argue that the oil companies need to promote their brand, an American product .. because oil companies fear that they'll be not needed by consumers within the next couple of decades?

[P51MUSTANG]

11:01 AM on 11/18/2010

>although Moss is correct that Dairy Management receives millions from the USDA

Money is fungible. Every $ DM receives from USDA might as well have gone directly to the Dominoe's project.

[Kiz boy]

03:46 PM on 11/18/2010

Federal dollars are not fungible they are restricted. You can use the funding for what it is meant to be used for or not, but you can't just move it around as you like.

[shthar]

04:02 PM on 11/18/2010

No, but you can then move other dollars that were paying for what the government will pay for, and then use them to sell cheese, buy a company plane, hire lobbyists, run political adds, etc, etc, etc.

[O K Ali]

10:52 AM on 11/18/2010

Easy, they keep using Twitter as a reliable source. Does anyone actually pick up the phone or leave the office for a fact anymore?