Oprah should take responsibility
Naturally I am all for the First Amendment and freedom of speech. However, your stance on the Oprah vs. Texas cattle ranchers case shows your ignorance of the issue. Yes, Oprah has the right to say whatever she wants on her show. But she also must accept responsibility for that right. There is very little doubt in my mind or in others’ who are familiar with agriculture markets that Oprah’s show was responsible for the dramatic fall of cattle prices after it aired, a fall that took weeks to recover.It is not because “the rules of logic work differently in Texas” that the ranchers are suing. Their industry’s reputation and markets were damaged because of what one powerful person said. You can bet that if Oprah’s industry was falsely accused of something that resulted in a multi-million dollar loss, she would sue too! They are not trying to make it libelous to question the safety of food products. They do want to make it libelous to make false statements about food safety, which obviously happened on the show.The ranchers do not want to stop the media from being “vigilant.” They just want Oprah to accept responsibility for her actions. I am sick of agriculture being a target all the time. We have the safest and cheapest food supply in the world. There was a time when the media was needed to make that happen. But the time has passed and it’s time for you to move on to other areas and stop expecting us to roll over like a cautious lap dog.
Erin ZeedykSenior, agricultural communications
