Producers with ABC’s Nightline walked away with a Genesis Award Saturday night in Hollywood during the 25th Anniversary of the awards show, which honors television and print journalists, talk shows, documentaries, and movies that confront animal cruelty and celebrate animals.Nightline won for its groundbreaking and daring exposé of the dairy industry’s cruel treatment of cows and calves in a piece based on the findings of MFA’s undercover investigation at Willet Dairy – the largest dairy operation in New York. The story exposed cows living in filthy, crowded conditions, workers hitting animals, bragging about abuse, cutting off calves’ tails, and burning out their horns without painkillers.
Scott Taylor, investigative reporter for WOIO 19 Action News in Cleveland, Ohio, also went home with a Genesis Award for his ongoing coverage of MFA’s Conklin Dairy Farms investigation. Scott’s blunt and brave reporting featured graphic footage of workers stabbing cows with pitchforks, beating cows with crowbars, breaking their tails, and stomping on baby calves. His coverage spoke truth to power and urged Ohio lawmakers to “get off their butts” and strengthen animal cruelty laws in the state – which currently considers abuse to farmed animals a mere misdemeanor.
Mercy For Animals congratulates Nightline and Scott Taylor for their truthful reporting on the often-unseen abuse endured by farmed animals. Because of their coverage, millions of Americans have had their hearts and minds opened to the plight of animals in the dairy industry.