I just read “Riding the middle path” (HCN, 12/8/03:
Riding the middle path). As a writer and photographer, I am acutely
aware of how word and photo choice influences perception. And once
again HCN proves that it is incapable of writing about the
livestock industry without being a sop to the industry.
When I read articles in the paper about coalbed methane, oil and
gas, logging or sprawl, there is a vastly different tone —
with these industries and those associated with it described in
either neutral or often negative terms. But the author of this
story notes that Owyhee Country has been in the “care” of ranchers
for “generations.” These “caring” ranchers created a situation
where it is noted that nearly all of the rangeland was deemed to be
in poor or fair condition and all the streams were in
unsatisfactory condition. Given the above information, it would be
more accurate to say that rancher Black and his family have been
“vandalizing” public lands for multiple generations.
The
photo choice also demonstrates this bias. We are treated to rancher
Chris Black riding a horse (always on a horse) with his daughter
instead of an image of Black’s cows trashing a riparian area.
This is a not-so-subtle way of saying ranchers are “family” people.
Using a personal portrait to humanize a story is a good hook and
journalistic style. However, HCN does not use the same techniques
with other natural resource exploiters. We don’t see a family
portrait of the roughneck playing with his kids by the rigs or the
logger out showing his son how to sharpen a chainsaw or run a
bulldozer.
Furthermore, HCN gives legitimacy to the
ranchers by suggesting the Owyhee proposal is a great compromise
— i.e. “riding the middle path” where equal interest groups
are coming together to forge a compromise. Yet ranchers are given
four votes in the group among 10 at the table. Four votes by
industry representatives is considered OK when it’s ranchers,
but I suspect that if this were some kind of meeting between
environmentalists and, say, oil and gas companies, we would read a
different story in HCN — about how the public process was
stacked in favor of industry representatives.
George
Wuerthner
Richmond, Vermont
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline HCN is a sop to the cowboys.
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