Reporting, I Guess

I see over at New West they are "reporting", I use that term loosely here, that Idaho has <a href="http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/5160/">lost its brucellosis free status</a>. This peaked my interest as stories that involve cattle do so I looked into it. The "reporter", Bill Schneider, uses as source material for this report a website called <a href="http://www.forwolves.org/ralph/bisonrpt.html">Ralph Maughan's Wildlife Reports</a> for this information.<br />n<br />nOn this website it states, "Now brucellosis has been spread by feedlot elk to Idaho cattle, and Idaho has most its brucellosis free status, accompanied by deafening media silence, a sure sign of heavy politics." The only documentation on this website for this information is the same source the New West story uses. One is a story from <a href="http://www.localnews8.com/home/2114222.html">KIFI</a> that states Idaho has lost its brucellosis status and is dated Dec. 23, 2005. The other is a story from the <a href="http://meek.sublette.com/examiner/v5n40/v5n40s2.htm">Sublette Examiner</a> dated Dec 29, 2005 that says;<br />n<br />n<blockquote>The Idaho State Department of Agriculture announced late last week that it has learned that Idaho will likely lose its brucellosis-free status and will join Wyoming in its class A status.<br />n<br />nThe U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is expected to publish a public notice of the status change in early January 2006. </blockquote><br />n<br />nI will point out that this report states that it is going to happen but has yet not happened. <br />n<br />nSince I have not found anything definite yet in these reports I decided to look a little further to see if I could find any information if Idaho has lost, at the present time as being "reported," its brucellosis free status. The logical first stop is <a href="http://www.aphis.usda.gov/">The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)</a> since they are the ones to deal with this kind of situation. Looked around and searched far and wide and could find no announcement on Idaho and its brucellosis status. Next I searched the <a href="http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome">United States Department of Agriculture (<acronym title="United States Department of Agriculture, Bought and Paid for by The Big Meat Packers">USDA</acronym>)</a> website for any information on the issue. I again struck out.<br />n<br />nLogically the next place to look was the <a href="http://www.agri.idaho.gov/Categories/Animals/indexAnimals.php">Idaho State Department of Agriculture</a> website. If there was a change in brucellosis status it would defiantly be located here. I struck out yet again. Lots of rules and regs about cattle and Brucellosis but nothing on the status being changed at this time. Running out of ideas I went to the <a href="http://www.accessidaho.org/">State of Idaho</a> web site. At this point I didn't feel I was going to find anything and guess what? I didn't.<br />n<br />nSo we have two published documents that aren't even in agreement as to the status of Idaho and its brucellosis status and a lot of negative findings, by me, on any other reports of Idaho's status yet the on-line Journalistic Endeavor New West emphatically states, "Idaho Loses its Brucellosis Free Status." I'm just a dumb cowboy but this doesn't seem very "Journalistic" to me. Sensationalistic maybe, but journalistic, no. I thought reporters were supposed to check there stories out a little better than this. Not just grab sketchy information from a website and report it as "news" because it fits an agenda they like. The tag line to the story in New West is "IDAHO PRESS NOT INTERESTED." Maybe the Idaho press checks its facts.<br />n<br />n<b>There should be truth in thought, truth in speech, and truth in action. Mohandas Gandhi</b><br />n<br />nP.S. As a cattleman and knowing the situation in Idaho I do not doubt they will lose their brucellosis free status. But it seems negligent to me to report it as fact when there is very little information backing it up. If anybody can direct me to a governmental press release on this I would appreciate it. I can't find anything saying that it's happened from an official source, just conjecture and only from the sites listed.<br />n<br />n<b>UPDATE:</b> I see the New West added some information on the article listed that explains yet again that Idaho <u>will lose</u> it's brucellosis free status but it has not happened yet as anybody that follws such stories all ready knows. The title of the article remains the same and misleads people into believing that it has all ready happened. What a wonderful job they do over there misleading the public with their "style of journalism."