As a reporter, I only grow more curious when someone shuts a door in my face and tells me to go away. I start to wonder what they are hiding and start looking harder for the truth.
That’s the situation I found myself in recently when the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) held a news conference in Des Moines. The animal rights group showed off a batch of dimly-lit undercover videos that they claim proves there is systematic abuse of hens at Iowa’s modern egg farms.
I’ve covered agriculture and food trends for years and thought I might be able to bring a little of that experience and expertise into the press conference. But it wasn’t possible. Because I work for an agriculture-affiliated organization, I was barred from the press conference. It didn’t matter that I was editor of the Spokesman, the most widely circulated newspaper in Iowa. My ties to agriculture made me unwelcome.
I wasn’t alone. People with a lot more expertise than me were also stuck out in the hallway. That included representatives from the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and others affiliated with agriculture.
Why were we kept out? HSUS leader Wayne Pacelle told the Des Moines Register that he shut out ag affiliated folks because he didn’t want “disruptions.”
But you have to wonder. It appears the tanned and polished Pacelle just doesn’t want to answer tough, and informed, questions. That doesn’t fit into Pacelle’s formula where he parachutes into town, calls a press conference at a downtown hotel and tries to make a splash in the media with undercover videos of alleged animal abuse.
The folks he accuses don’t get a chance to talk or ask questions. It doesn’t matter that they work 24-7 to care for animals and to produce safe, healthy and wholesome food. Or, that they, too, don’t tolerate the abuse of animals and want to get to the bottom of any alleged abuse.
The HSUS formula is designed to horrify and disgust consumers and to vilify livestock farmers, then it’s on to the next media event. The formula has helped HSUS raise millions in donations and build support among uniformed consumers for its campaigns to end modern animal agriculture.
Written by Dirck Steimel
Dirck is the news services manager for Iowa Farm Bureau.
I thought the other rep said there weren’t the right credentials – Credentials, not wanting interrupted.Seems just any excuse will do
Why does HSUS continue to play by different rules than they impose on the rest of us? Dirck is correct in wondering what HSUS is hiding. Now we need to share the truth with the rest of the unsuspecting public.
I find it so interesting that if the tables were turned here, there would be huge uproar. Can you imagine Wayne not getting admitted to a press conference it was appropriate for him to be in? And getting turned away?! The police surely would’ve been involved and it would’ve been a huge media story. Just interesting how strange things really can be…
I’m glad the HSUS is bringing attention to these things. I quit eating meat over 20 years ago after witnessing events similar to what Pacelle making public. And to you who got left out of the press conference…it wasn’t your press conference.
Debbie,
A press conference by its very definition is an open invitation to the press to attend. When you start selectively refusing entrance to certain reporters, you’re insuring a built-in bias to what’s said and what’s reported. If Pacelle wants the truth (the whole truth and nothing but the truth) to be told, he shouldn’t try to control the news/message/reporting.
An ag related press conference addressing agriculture isn’t the business of an agricultural press person? Hmmm. Of course it might have been uncomfortable to point out one of those vilified farms has a rather large flock of – yes! – cage free birds also. I don’t recall HSUS pushing that option for the farm, or even comparing how much better the cage free birds have it. Not a mention at all.
Debbie,
Why do you think people like you and Wayne Pacelle should have the choice to eat a vegan diet, but others shouldn’t have the choice to eat meat? THAT is Wayne’s reason for not wanting both sides of the story told to the public. What is yours? A press confernece is supposed to be open to the press in general, not just the press who will quote W.P. in a one-sided blog.
This guy does PR for the Farm Bureau. He is not a journalist. I don’t see the harm in allowing him into the press conference, but he isn’t a journalist. If only journalists were allowed in, then he should’ve been excluded.
Dirck Steimel is a journalist. He is the editor for the Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman – a newspaper that has a broader reach than almost any news outlet in the state. If that doesn’t warrant an invite in … I’m not quite sure what does.
The writer is the “editor of the Spokesman, the most widely circulated newspaper in Iowa”
How is that not a journalist?
Direck, Direck, it is because Wayne Pacelle is the CEO of a lobbying agency for the vegan animal rights social movement. That is why. Wayne picked up HSUS and turned it in to a vegan social movement. He is hell bent on not saving animals, but letting chickens move freely, pigs, cats and dogs everything not owned by anyone wondering around in a Bambi like vegan utopia…., all waiting to be eaten alive by Mr. Wiley Cayote and if people die off being vegan, that is OK because the world has too many people who are destroying the planet. That is the real vegan animal rights social movement of Wayne Pacelle and his many foot soldiers who work overtime because they feel they are doing something worthy. If they only knew, that they were probably targeted in schools when they were 9, and started lobbying by phone when they were 10 or 12 and made them feel like they were doing something good “for the poor animals who have no voice” and …….as God intended. Animal welfare is very different from the vegan animal rights movement.
Well, I am a bonafide journalist with all the credentials necessary and HSUS has stopped me from attending their events three times! And these were events WITH California politicians present at both municipal and state legislative levels violating Grunsky-Burton Act and Brown Act or “open meetings” and the crime list just keeps growing. Go to http://www.hsussucks.com to see video accounts of the denial ON FILM with journalists showing their Press ID
Welcome to Freedom of HSUS, NOT The Press!
It’s about time the farmers and dog lovers and cat lovers start uniting and getting Pacelle and the HSUS where they belong – out of sight, out of circulation, and out of our rights.
Playing by different rules is simply part of the method. You don’t actually expect those who want to dominate us to live the way that they want us to live, do you?
We need to spread the word about this HSUS that goes under the disguise of being the benefactor to our local humane societies within our communities. Every American needs to know HSUS and what their agenda is all about. I bet their flow of money would come to a screeching halt. HSUS is a bottom feeder.
thanks for the interesting blog, its one of my favorites
It’s much harder today to be a front man with a hidden agenda because of the communications bonanza in social media. Obviously, it takes about 100 million dollars a year to stay ahead of it. SO let’s slow down the HSUS by contributing that $19/ month to your local animal shelter and do some real good.