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AdvertisementTaking action against TIMELike everyone in production agriculture, I was incensed by the recent Bryan Walsh opinion piece, "The Real Cost of Cheap Food," in TIME magazine. Allow me some space to join the chorus in derision toward the lack of facts Walsh has in his tome. We need to look closer, however, how general interest media covers the industry. This is important especially now, since Walsh has said in interviews that TIME is moving toward point-of-view, or opinion writing, rather than traditional reporting where all segments of an issue are covered and the reader is allowed to draw their own conclusions. The problem is the general public has no clue that this is what Walsh and TIME are doing. It's not being expressed as point-of-view writing but strictly fact. This leaves the poor consumer even more confused about what to think about how their food is produced. We can complain about how Time is messing with us all we want. Complaints don't fix TIME's arrogance toward the facts and its lack of service toward them. I'm proud to say I'm a Rotarian. One of the themes a past international president of Rotary used for his year of service was "Create awareness. Take action." Looking at TIME magazine, we can use this theme to move forward in what production agriculture does next to make sure TIME magazine hears our voices. How to do it? Become Bryan Walsh's boss. Even though the stock is a dog, I recommend buying Time Warner (TWX) stock. Buy a bunch of it. At least 10 shares if you can afford. Stock ownership can do wonders in changing attitudes about corporate responsibility. While small shareholders can't automatically change policy, they can muck things up real good for corporate boards if they make shareholder proposals at annual meetings. I used to be a news director for a CBS-TV affiliate. I can't begin to tell you how many complaints came into our newsroom about Dan Rather. Nationally, Rather became a target of conservatives for left-wing bias. Things came to a head when, in 1985, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-NC, started a national drive to "become Dan Rather's boss." In a letter to his supporters, Helms wrote, "(If each conservative) shifts enough of his or her savings or investments to buy just 20 shares of CBS stock, we would have enough votes to end CBS's bias forever." Do note, at that time, CBS was in bad financial shape. They were laying off people in droves and selling assets for cash. I recall that time--and Helms had CBS brass running for cover like cockroaches running under the sink when the kitchen light is flicked on. At this time, Time Warner is in bad financial shape. They have been laying off people in droves and selling assets for cash. So, sure, this crazy idea may work. It makes sense to give ownership in Time Warner a try to make producer voices heard. It's happened before. A good example of that is Michael Moore. In his movie Roger & Me, Moore bought shares of stock in General Motors to be admitted to its annual meeting in order to ask GM chair Roger Smith to come to Flint, Mich., to see what GM layoffs had done to the city. While Moore wasn't recognized to speak, it was clear GM management knew he was there. Sure, his actions were mischievous and self-serving, but there's no denying it. Michael Moore scared the bejesus out of Roger Smith. In the 1960s stock ownership worked to reverse racial and sexual discrimination. In the 1980s stock-owning Roman Catholic nuns lamented about big business being involved in wars, ripping off peasants and destroying the environment in developing countries. In either case, they may not have won minds, but they won a lot of hearts. The most impressive achievement of these corporate watchdogs: The freeing of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid in South Africa. It took time but corporate America got it on the issue. Buying stock to become Bryan Walsh's boss makes sense. It will create awareness and it may make Time Warner take action to create a clear editorial position that it is openly liberal in its bias. That way, those that object to their points of view can boycott their advertisers. But that's another mission. Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117, or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com. Advertisement
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