NBC Today Show – “The Ugly Reality” About AKC Breeders

By Amy Fernandez

News coverage continues to blur the line between entertainment and journalism The NBC Today Show hit a new low today when its investigative correspondent Jeff Rossen offered a sensationalized exposé of “the ugly reality” about AKC breeders. Claiming that AKC inspections are worthless, the story provided scant evidence to support their allegations of “AKC breeders raising diseased dogs, malnourished, living in their own filth.” Of course, this propaganda piece closed with another promotion to adopt shelter dogs. As investigative journalism, it appeared to be poorly researched, was rife with errors, and relied on innuendo to compensate for its lack of facts. The big question is why did they run this nonsense?

Understandably, NBC Today is battling Morning Show rivals for network ratings. It’s even easier to understand why ASPCA and HSUS jumped into this story. They are scrambling for opportunities to deflect media attention from the cataclysmic legal mess resulting from their baseless lawsuit against Ringling Brothers. Recently, the judge ruled that the plaintiffs were liable for the defendant’s $20 million in attorneys’ fees. So far, ASPCA has ponied up a $9.3 million settlement payment, and the size of that damage claim caught the attention of mainstream media sources. These giants of the animal charity industry appear to be desperately seeking an emergency image makeover.

On January 5, Wayne Pacelle attempted to turn the tide with a Wall Street Journal editorial characterizing HSUS as innocent victims of a grudge suit. Negative reader response to his ludicrous portrayal of the events intensified unwanted criticism.

Unlike the NBC report, this is truly newsworthy. Allegations of animal cruelty to elephants became the basis of a lawsuit against Feld Entertainment (owners of Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus) for violating the Endangered Species Act. During the course of the trial, this morphed into charges of racketeering and fraud against the plaintiffs. They eventually abandoned their claims as the scope of their activities came to light. Testimony of their key witness was rejected entirely when evidence revealed that he was paid by the plaintiffs.

Along with a discredited witness, the plaintiffs’ assertions of elephant mistreatment were supported by equally specious undercover video footage. In the NBC piece, Pacelle boasted of his group’s record of proving animal cruelty via undercover investigations. He didn’t mention their ongoing legal opposition to bills that would compel whistleblowers to turn over undercover evidence to authorities within 24 or 48 hours of discovery. Logically, that seems like a natural response to such a discovery, as time is a major factor in any criminal investigation. We saw this last week as events unfolded following the terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon. The suspects were quickly identified thanks to the massive amount of personal photos, videos, and observations submitted to aid the investigation.

Ironically, Pacelle appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show a few days later and had the audacity to directly compare HSUS undercover investigations to that notable example of cooperation between civilians and law enforcement.

In my opinion, HSUS doesn’t hesitate to capitalize on every media opportunity, including terrorist attacks. But, cooperating in legitimate investigations does not seem to be on their agenda. It appears to me that if they find evidence of animal cruelty they hold onto it while they edit, propagandize, fundraise, and strategize before going public. This so-called AKC investigation is a perfect example. If indeed, they had evidence of AKC registered breeders committing these violations, why not contact AKC? Instead, it seems they used it for media leverage timed to deflect negative publicity.

It appears to me that HSUS is obviously frustrated by AKC opposition to so many of their misguided legal initiatives to restrict and impede pet ownership and dog breeding. Among other things Pacelle said, “They should be helping the Humane Society in its efforts to crack down on these awful breeders, but they’re protecting them.”

Along with this indisputable grudge, HSUS is also desperate to revive its credibility. Unfortunately, AKC didn’t come off much better in this round. Rather than promoting a century of valid accomplishments and explaining exactly why they don’t work with HSUS, they dodged questions on their kennel inspection program.

HSUS won this battle of media warfare, but the war’s not over.

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Posted by admin on May 2 2013. Filed under Breaking News, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.