This Post Has Been Censored by the NCBA*

The government is not the only power capable of censorship. Corporate companies can, too, censor materials that could hurt their reputation in the public eye.

On April 16, 1996, Oprah hosted a debate between Gary Weber of the National Cattleman's Beef Association and Howard Lynman, a vegetarian activist, regarding the production of meat. Lynman put Weber to shame, exposing details of how farmers feed animals to other animals in order to produce more meat and how this practice lends itself to mad cow disease. The audience was shocked, the producers were crying tears of joy at the ratings, and news networks reported on the sensational, ground-breaking program, after which Oprah stated she would, essentially, never eat a cheeseburger again.

The National Cattleman's Beef Association (NCBA) immediately pulled $600,000 in advertising and threatened to take legal action. Oprah, responding to the pressure, invited Connie Grief, an Iowa cattle producer, onto the show, WITHOUT an opposing viewpoint- something that rarely occurs on Oprah's show. Oprah apologized for the sensationalism of the last program (through her teeth,) but the damage had been done. The NCBA filed a lawsuit against Oprah, and, while Oprah won the case after years of tiresome legislation, the incident sparked debate on "product disparagement laws," which had been recently passed through legislation.

To this day, even "alternative" media stays hush-hush on the issues of the food industry. Indeed, Oprah, queen of the network talk-show, barely made it out of the Public Relations debate alive. Such an event shows that censorship is not just done by governments but by large corporations whose success lies in high public opinion of their product.

If you google-image-search "oprah winfrew mad cow," no relevant images will pop up, unlike most Oprah episodes which have a few screenshots available online. While there's a multitude of articles on the subject, the mad cow controversy is still a relatively untouched subject. And, considering the attention span of the public, who has surely forgot the Oprah episode in which audience members cringed at descriptions of cannibalism, as well as the power of the food industry, which can impact ($$) law-making processes, I doubt this subject will emerge again any time soon.

Think twice before munching on that Big Mac.