At least, that appears to be the aim of this editorial from the New York Times, as they spin a press release from the Sierra Club into a full-blown column, with the hysterical, apocalyptic title The Curse of Factory Farms. There is no attempt to disguise their full-throated support for the measure; at least it is on the editorial pages. Often, environmental advocacy is presented as straight news.
They hit all the green talking points: Lack of biodiversity, poisoning the water, crushing the organic famers, and of course, their favorite—"current regulations are too weak"—in other words, "let's add more regulations and red tape, because our food is not expensive enough".
For once, I'd love to see a major paper turn a press release from the American Enterprise Institute or The Cato Institute into an editorial. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen, however.
posted on August 30, 2002 04:32 PM
