Major Media Outlets Come Out Strong Against Ag-Gag

A state judge’s declaration that Idaho’s insidious ag-gag
law is unconstitutional has electrified major media outlets. From the pages of The New York Times to NPR, Idaho’s
ag-gag law has been blasted for its blatant disregard for transparency and First
Amendment rights.

In 2012, MFA released a disturbing undercover video taken at Idaho’s
largest dairy factory farm, Bettencourt Dairies. That investigation showed
workers and management viciously beating and shocking cows and violently
twisting their tails; unsafe and unsanitary conditions, including feces covered
floors; and sick or injured cows suffering from open wounds, broken bones, and
infected udders left to suffer without proper veterinary care.

Here is just a sampling of what the media reported:

The New York Times:

In a country that lavishes love and legal protections on
house pets, factory-farmed animals are left out in the cold, exempt from almost
all animal-cruelty laws. As a result they suffer torture and other mistreatment
to a degree that is hard to imagine. The only way to make it stop is to ensure
that Americans can see for themselves what goes on behind the factory doors.

NPR:

Animal rights groups cheered the decision on the Idaho law
this week from U.S. District
Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill. Winmill found the state’s
“Agricultural Security Act” unconstitutional for criminalizing
certain types of speech.

Los Angeles Times:

Judge Winmill noted that the law would have criminalized the
undercover journalism that Upton Sinclair performed in order to write his
shocking 1906 novel on the meatpacking industry, “The Jungle,”
which led to industry reforms.

“As the story of Upton Sinclair illustrates, an
agricultural facility’s operations that affect food and worker safety are not
exclusively a private matter. Food and worker safety are matters of public
concern,” Winmill wrote. “Moreover, laws against trespass, fraud,
theft and defamation already exist.”

Associated Press:

A federal judge ruled Monday that Idaho’s law banning secret
filming of animal abuse at agricultural facilities is unconstitutional, giving
animal rights activists across the country hope that the decision will pave the
way to overturn similar laws in other states.

U.S. Judge Court Judge B. Lynn
Winmill found that the law violates the First Amendment.

To get updates on ag-gag legislation and to take action to
help stop it, visit MercyForAnimals.org and sign up
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