Two Against One in Food Fight
Balance not on the menu
in NBC report on food industry.
by Megan
Alvarez
July 7, 2005
NBCs lack of balance in a segment titled Food Fight that aired on
the July 6, 2005, Nightly News set up a lopsided discussion
between sides of the obesity debate.
The segment centered on the struggle between two
groups, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) and the Center for
Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and their battle over obesity.
When introducing the spokesmen for these groups, Rick Berman and
Michael Jacobson, respectively, reporter Kevin Corke labeled the
Center for Consumer Freedom as food industry funded, but then
provided no label for CSPI.
By calling CCF food industry funded and using no
label when introducing CSPI, Corke undermined CCF while leaving the
perception that CSPI was unbiased.
The truth of the matter is much different. CSPI is an
anti-free market group that advocates for a fat tax and
government-mandated warning labels on foods they deem to be high-fat
and high-calorie. Jacobson, executive director for CSPI, was quoted
in a July 7, 2005, New York Times article titled The Food Industry
Strikes Back saying, If someone is saying that a 64-ounce soda at
7-Eleven contributed to obesity, that person should have his day in
court.
Additionally, CSPI was a participant in the Public
Health Advocacy Institutes annual conference, Legal Approaches to
the Obesity Epidemic, in September 2004. That conference featured
an article by Jacobson titled A Time to Sue? in which he openly
advocated suing the food industry. Simply put, CSPI is not an
unbiased, agenda-free organization and should be represented more
accurately in news coverage.
This type of selective labeling is not a new
occurrence. It has been documented in two Business & Media Institute
special reports, SuperSized Bias and SuperSized Bias II. Both
studies found the majority of the mainstream media reluctant to
label CSPI as liberal or left-wing, but comfortable with
labeling CCF an advocacy group funded by the food industry. This
latest report by NBC is in keeping with the trend.
NBC was also biased in its use of guests. Along with
the spokesmen for CCF and CSPI, NBC also gave air time to Dr. David
Ludwig. Again, besides the title Doctor, NBC provided no label,
leaving the perception that Ludwig was unbiased and agenda-free.
In reality, Dr. Ludwig is an ally of CSPI. In
Childhood Obesity: public health crisis, common sense cure, which
Ludwig co-authored, he advocated government intervention, including
a fat tax, subsidies on nutritious foods, nutrition labels on fast
food packages, prohibition of food advertising directed at children,
and increased funding for public health campaigns.
Dr. Ludwig openly attacked CCF in his NBC appearance,
saying, What level of personal responsibility does Consumer Freedom
want a five-year-old to take in the face of endless advertising of
fast food? To which Rick Berman, spokesman for CCF replied, Kids
are not driving themselves to McDonalds. It's not about kids and
their choices. It's about parents and their choices.
Any attempt at balance was lost when NBC failed to
include an additional voice in support of the free market and
consumer freedom. Instead, NBCs Food Fight teamed Jacobson and
Ludwig, who were portrayed to be unbiased, against Berman, who was
labeled food industry funded.