Is Rachel Maddow Going Easy on MSNBC's Advertisers: GMO, Fracking, Walmart?

Did Rachel Maddow just open a new door in her reporting? This past Wednesday, a Rachel Maddow segment exposed the well-funded campaign to prevent GMO food labeling during Washington state's election day referendum, an effort that narrowly won despite what was earlier measured at two-to-one support in favor of labeling genetically modified food.

Monsanto, Coke, Pepsi, Kraft, DuPont and various retail associations poured $22 million - all from out-of-state coffers - into the campaign against Referendum 522, dwarfing the $6 million raised by food labeling advocates. This is basically a repeat of the same cash avalanche that killed GMO transparency in California last year. But what's different for this close watcher of Maddow is the fact that she has rarely weighed in on the GMO foods debate before this.

We may never know why Maddow doesn't report more often on Monsanto's dark manipulations, but one guess is because MSNBC's food industry sponsors have a vested interest in keeping Maddow focused on other subjects. The story-behind-the-story can never be divulged, thanks to standard industry practices like non-disclosure agreements, but in media, sometimes non-reporting on a subject gives us insight too.

MSNBC's Tug-Of-War

Maddow sometimes paints her own advertisers in a bad light, and in turn, their advertising on her show contradicts her. For example, Maddow was way in front of the rest of the media during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill catastrophe, showing how BP misled us on the extent of the spill, and used toxic chemical dispersants to make the gigantic oil plumes less visible. But today, we can see BP ads air on her show, promising that the clean up is going awesome and that BP is committed to the people and environment, (even as they doggedly resist paying reparations in court).

Another everyday advertiser in Maddow's breaks are spots placed by the American Petroleum Institute that portray hydraulic fracturing as safe, secure and under close 24-hour monitoring. But MSNBC's steady diet of industry cash collides awkwardly with Maddow's coverage of hydrofracking. She has aired multiple segments exposing the record of the industry...but it's not one of her most prominent beats.

Modified Broadcasts: Can Commercial TV Objectively Report on the Food Industry?

Even more absent on Maddow's TV show is reporting on the great GMO food debate. I perked up Wednesday as she approached it sideways, in a report more focused on massive corporations outspending the grassroots in Washington state. Seems the $16 million disparity in yet another "food fight" referendum trumped whatever has kept Rachel so off the topic to date, although too late to affect the outcome.

Maybe the issue is gaining importance - other states remain poised to introduce similar bills, spotlighting Obama's broken campaign promise to label GMO foods, and his appointment of Monsanto executives to top posts in the FDA and agricultural trade office.

Of late a different Rachel, Rachel Parent, a fourteen year old anti-GMO activist has been gaining attention for going toe-to-toe with a wealthy industry supporter on TV. She handed the guy his shill-happy spleen in a now-viral video. Perhaps because it's less corrupt Canadian television, the public was able to benefit from such a discourse.

Back home, it seems the "sales" division at MSNBC has never offered any of their many food industry contacts a chance to discuss labeling with Maddow during her program. Here MSNBC's weekend host Melissa Harris-Perry took on GMOs, but was told by a panelist that the science on the matter is settled, despite a significant network of European scientists disagreeing. Monsanto would be proud. [continued...]


Full article with links at :

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