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Farm broadcasters are challenged to do better

After taking a hiatus of sorts from involvement in the professional organization to which I have been a voting member for 17 years now, I accepted the NAFB president’s appointment to chair the professional improvement committee for The National Association of Farm Broadcasters for 2004. For many years I served on the board of directors, as a regional vice president and as a national director. The past 3 years I have focused all of my professional attention on building my team of farm broadcasters at the Brownfield Network, and updating our product to better suit our listeners. There was no time left for NAFB.

Professional improvement is a very important facet of the overall management plan for my team and our product. With a combined total of 206 years in farm broadcasting, I still believe that we all need to retool. When I asked one of the 18-year broadcast veterans to spend a few hours with a voice coach, he was not exactly elated, but soon discovered that old dogs do learn new tricks. Now I have 8 others who are chomping at the bit for a session with Dr. Coleman.

The “theme” I proposed to NAFB for professional improvement for 2004 is simply “Credibility.” Being credible is the single most important aspect of farm broadcasting for me, personally. The timing is right, considering the events of the past few months.

Two very well-known and well-respected newspapers have found that star reporters on their staffs had plagiarized and/or simply “made up” stories that we, as a news-hungry nation, devoured as truth. The newspapers have issued formal apologies. Investigations into the fabrications, embellishments, and lies continue.

These news stories probably did not have a direct impact on anyone reading this column today. But these 2 major newspapers are not the only ones with reporters involved in shameful conduct. In the past few weeks there have been several instances where misleading, incomplete, or simply untrue information has been sent out by what we once considered “trusted” sources for agricultural news, and broadcast journalists were “ripping and reading” that misinformation as news.

I covered the National Pork Industry Forum held in Atlanta, Georgia in early March. Once considered a “must” for farm broadcasters covering agriculture in the Midwest, the event this year drew only 5 from our ranks. There were several print journalists from major livestock publications covering the event, as well as several newswire reporters.

As a journalist, National Pork Forum is one of my favorite events. It is always fast paced. There is always a great deal of news to report to listeners and viewers to our website. There are always key figures in the agriculture industry on hand to address both the Pork Act Delegates (the check-off arm) and the National Pork Producers Council delegates attending the event. It is also reporter-friendly with easy-access to record everything that is said during the event. And, record I do! I record every motion, every second to a motion, every bit of the discussion about every motion, every announcement of a vote count. You get the picture. I end up with hours of audio from this event, not to mention the notes I take, and the detailed news releases given to us by the communications folks at NPB and NPPC that thoroughly explain what has happened for those who decide to go sight-seeing or hang out in the press room eating complimentary cookies and drinking complimentary soft drinks instead of actually COVERING the event. For those who choose to blow off the meeting, there is a news conference following each session, so reporters can ask questions about what happened, and get further details and interviews with the leaders.

In my personal opinion, unless you have an agenda in mind, you cannot fail when it comes to reporting the facts that surround the news generated at this event.

Much of the debate at National Pork Forum occurs on the week-end. My network does not offer news reports to our 250 affiliate stations on Sunday, so much of the news from this event is not heard on my network until Monday morning. We do offer news updates on our website. This is the lead story I posted to www.brownfieldnetwork.com on March 6, 2004:
“The Pork Act Delegates- the check-off arm, which funds research, promotion and education– met in Atlanta, Georgia March 4 – 7. There were only a few resolutions for Pork Board delegates to act upon at this meeting. A proposal to reduce the mandatory check-off rate to 35 cents per $100 value as soon as possible but no later than October 1 of this year failed, while a resolution that the rate be reduced to 35 cents when there is written commitment for voluntary funding exceeding 4.5 million on an annualized basis passed. Craig Christensen, President of the National Pork Board said, “The will of the delegates always comes through. This is a great opportunity for us to sit together from all different states and all different opinions that are going to impact us and our industry.”

The story that reporters at numerous radio stations across the Midwest read to listeners on Monday morning was something entirely different. Call it complacency, arrogance, or ignorance, it all adds up to the same thing: inaccurate news reporting. Most of the wire services covering this very important event reported that the motion to reduce the check-off rate to 35 cents did NOT fail.

Because the pork industry is an important segment of agriculture in the Midwest, many farm broadcasters unable to attend and cover Forum for whatever reason, relied on wire reports for news from the event. I am not suggesting that my fellow farm broadcasters that read that news wire story did in any way set out to fabricate the news, but many did pass along those untruths to their listening audiences.

I’m not writing this column to bash my peers. I have made my share of mistakes! I am deeply troubled by what happened. I sat beside 2 of those wire reporters during the news conference where this particular issue was discussed. The facts were laid out for them, as they were for me. I am not suggesting for one minute that you discount anything you hear or read in the news. I am writing this to let you know that we, as farm broadcasters, are being challenged to do better.

I am sure of that, because I am chairing the NAFB professional improvement committee!