Dairy sector fights back against the media’s dark arts
Media spin, editorial bias, agenda-driven reporting, fake news and good old-fashioned propaganda tend to form part of the spectrum of journalistic activity we encounter every day.
Which of the above labels you attach to some of news stories can depend very much on both the position and perspective from which you view them.
The extreme end of the spectrum doesn’t tend to impinge on the farming world too regularly though. But last week was a bit of an exception – with a lot of folk feeling the industry had been subjected to some dealings at the darker end of the continuum.
The BBC documentary, The Darker Side of Dairy, certainly had the industry up in arms over its portrayal of the small number of dairy calves exported from these shores. And while many in the industry might be slightly less than comfortable with the live export of young calves, there’s no doubting that it’s both a legitimate and well supervised trade where welfare considerations are given top priority.
But after continued media interest and P&O’S decision to stop transporting calves, NFU Scotland stepped in to highlight what they viewed as inaccuracies and bias.
And although “ship them orshootthem”wasgivenas the industry’s approach in the programme, the truth is that the vast majority of dairy calves are either fattened and finished on the farm of birth or elsewhere in the UK– with the export trade accounting for only a small proportion.
This might have been the reason why so few Scottish
dairy calves actually appeared in the programme – with the union pointing out that clips showing English calves at an English mart, a lorryload of Irish cattle going to Italy, Hungarian cattle being loaded on to a ferry in Romania and Australian cattle being slaughtered in Egypt all played backdrop to the programme’s dialogue on Scottish calves.
Complaints were also raised about the interview with the union’s livestock chairman, Charlie Adam – with the considerable time spent explaining the preferred options for dealing with male dairy calves including the use of sexed semen and finding better markets for dairy bull beef ending up on the cutting room floor.
There was also little about the air conditioning on the floats, the frequent stops for feeding and resting and the many other welfare considerations of the calves in transit – the quality of which has been publicly backed up by the country’s chief veterinary officer, Sheila Voas, who is conducting a thorough and long-term investigation into the trade.
But while the BBC agreed to cut some footage, it backed the programme’s thrust, maintaining that it was in the public interest.
Any bans – either regulatory or unilaterally imposed by ferry companies – on live transport is a sensitive issue for Scotland as travel times for animals moving from some of the islands and more remote areas are often greater
than the hop from England across to the continent.
But while the industry might believe it was stitched up by the programme, it wasn’t the only example of the dark arts of media spin last week.
And while the UK government’s Agriculture Bill on post-brexit farm policy highlighted a step change away from food production to environmental support in a radical departure from the 40 odd years of the CAP, the finer details will take some time to filter out – as will how much of the bill actually refers to us up here in Scotland.
For, as both the UK and Scottish Governments are fully aware, agriculture is a devolved issue. Sadly this also makes it a political football – so the spinmasters were out in force.
The Scottish Government got in early with claims that their ability to continue LFASS scheme and de-coupled support would be undermined by the Agriculture Bill, as could other key areas of control.
But the UK government bit back that claims of any “power grab” were false, and that it was a “myth” that any Scottish scheme would be jeopardised by the bill, adding that the Scottish Government should get on with its own plans and not keep its own farmers in the dark about future agricultural policy in Scotland.
In a future which looks unsure, the one certainty is likely to be more spin.