CBS NEWS – SERVING THE RODEO MAFIA, TRUTH IN JOURNALISM BE DAMNED!

In early 2001, SHARK became aware that the CBS News program, 48 Hours was working on a rodeo story. Pro Rodeo Sport News, the propaganda publication of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), boasted that a 48 Hours crew of 20 had covered PRCA rodeos starting in early November 2000 in San Francisco, and continuing at least into early December. That’s a lot of time to spend with the Rodeo Mafia; more than enough time to get a story right.

SHARK is the leading organization documenting and exposing rodeos across the US. As such, we were surprised that 48 Hours had not contacted us, or for that matter, any animal protection organization regarding rodeo animal abuse.

We decided to make it easy for CBS News by sending a letter and making phone calls offering our documentation. In response, SHARK received a phone call from 48 Hours Senior Producer Katie Boyle, who said she was willing to look at our evidence.

SHARK sent videotapes, still pictures and other documentation of rodeo cruelty; enough evidence to fill a season of 48 Hours episodes. The videotapes showed animals at PRCA rodeos getting hit with 5,000 volts of painful electricity to force them to “perform” (this violates the PRCA’s own humane rules), animals having their tails twisted, pulled and raked over fences, animals being kicked, dragged by the neck, and animals injured and even killed.

Our documentation proved the PRCA’s claims of having and enforcing humane rules are nothing but a public relations ploy, and exposed PRCA cover-ups of animals injured and killed in rodeos.

Our evidence included specific instances wherein rodeo announcers lied to spectators, telling them an animal killed was simply “knocked out.” In one case, after a dead steer was carried out of the arena in Lake County, Illinois, a different steer was paraded into the arena, with the rodeo producer claiming it to be the animal that was, in fact, dead. The truth surfaced when a young man volunteering at the rodeo blew the whistle.

SHARK’s information included the names of dozens of rodeo companies and individuals caught violating the PRCA’s own rules, not to mention humane laws of various states. A number of rodeo companies and individuals were caught violating humane rules year after year, making it clear that the PRCA’s humane rules are as phony as any claim that rodeo is a sport.

SHARK president Steve Hindi urged 48 Hours to go to some PRCA rodeos undercover to find out what really goes on. Then show producers wouldn’t have to rely solely on SHARK footage – 48 Hours would have its own documentation.

Our allegations against rodeos were a journalist’s dream. Proving them true or false would be child’s play. Such an operation would serve as a litmus test to either verify or refute SHARK’s charges. Either way, 48 Hours would have a great story.

Hindi offered to accompany a 48 Hours undercover team to PRCA rodeos of their choice. It is easy for even seasoned journalists to miss rodeo abuses if they don’t know what they are looking for. SHARK had already accompanied other documentary teams from the US, England and France on such operations, and in every case we successfully exposed gross animal abuse at PRCA rodeos.

To our surprise, CBS News and 48 Hours were not interested. We were at a complete loss as to why the journalists at CBS News did not want to learn the truth about a subject on which they were reporting. That’s what real journalism is all about – putting claims and counterclaims to the test.

48 Hours did send a crew for a brief interview with SHARK president Steve Hindi, but it was a producer, not a correspondent asking the questions. The producer would not review video footage with Steve, nor was he interested in Steve’s repeated urging to go to some PRCA rodeos undercover.

Again, it was a 48 Hours producer, not a correspondent, who had a phone conversation with veterinarian and outspoken rodeo critic Peggy Larson (a former rodeo performer and rodeo vet). Dr. Larsen said she was shocked by the ridiculous and superficial questions such as, “Do cows and horses feel pain?”

The producer stated that he had witnessed a calf break its leg at the 2001 National Finals Rodeo, but that it was “just a broken leg, and the calf was fine.” This statement clearly demonstrated the producer’s naiveté regarding the Rodeo Mafia.

SHARK supplied CBS News and 48 Hours with irrefutable documentation. We named PRCA stock contractors and individuals involved in abuses. The only possible way for 48 Hours to get the story wrong was with absolute intent to ignore and/or cover up the truth.

The resulting 48 Hours segment, “Your Wildest Dreams,” was the most outrageous pro-rodeo propaganda imaginable. It became immediately clear that the show had a premeditated bias that pandered to the Rodeo Mafia, at the expense of truth.

Untalented or lazy reporters sometimes produce stories that are nothing more than a “he said, she said” exchange.  That’s bad journalism.  Incredibly, CBS News and 48 Hours did not even aspire to this level.  “This was a case of a predetermined story line, damn the facts,” said SHARK president Steve Hindi, “CBS News committed the most blatant disregard for truth I have, or hopefully ever will witness.”

Besides glorifying animal abuse, CBS cut scenes showing some of the most obvious cruelty at rodeos -- such as the moment a roped calf is jerked back by the neck. Networks which regularly air rodeos like ESPN and TNN practice this lie by omission at the Rodeo Mafia's insistence.   They know that most people wouldn't long tolerate the activity if they were allowed to actually see what goes on.

It is bad enough when ESPN and TNN blatantly and deliberately hide the truth. It is even more reprehensible when the deception is conducted by CBS News.

Out of the hour-long program, mere seconds were dedicated to humane concerns at rodeos. At the very end of the program, anchorman Dan Rather stated the following:

“The professional rodeo circuit is a world of contradictions; a rugged way of life that has its virtues and its violence, and these days a target for sharp attack from animals rights groups, who see it as institutionalized abuse, alleging that the animals are physically provoked to get them revved up for the show. They especially point to the bucking events and the use of a cinching belt around the midsection.”

“In response the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association says that device does no harm, and only brings out behavior that comes naturally to begin with. Those devoted to rodeo make no apologies, saying it’s a throwback both to the romance, and the risk of the frontier.”

Rather’s very brief mention of “a cinching belt around the midsection,” refers to the flank strap, a device that can drive a horse to “buck blind” to the point of slamming into fences, gates, etc. Many horses have been injured and even killed from bucking blind. Our website has a section dedicated to showing the effect the buck strap has on horses, and what happens when it is removed.

The buck strap doesn’t even begin to explain the depth of rodeo cruelty. Rather didn’t mention rodeo’s biggest controversy -- calf roping (they just edited scenes so you couldn’t see what happens to the calf). Rather didn’t mention the use of electric shock, tail twisting, tail raking, steer busting and many other practices that are standard rodeo practices. Either Mr. Rather (a Texas native) is either completely ignorant of rodeo animal abuse, or he is simply unwilling to tell the truth.

Mr. Rather inadvertently did make one accurate remark when he said, “Those devoted to rodeo make no apologies…” That is true. SHARK investigators have never heard rodeo supporters apologize for what they do. However, we regularly see the Rodeo Mafia lie, cover-up, and hide their abuses, just as CBS News did with “Your Wildest Dreams.”

The reason why CBS News and 48 Hours did not initially call animal protection organizations is obvious. They never intended to tell the truth. “Your Wildest Dreams” was intended to be flattering and ingratiating propaganda for the Rodeo Mafia from the very beginning.

Following the 48 Hours debacle, many animal protectors wrote to CBS News president Andrew Heyward demanding that CBS News make things right. In response, Heyward wrote a form letter claiming that:

“Our goal in this instance was never to examine the sport of rodeo – it was to do personality profiles of cowboys.”

This is a preposterous statement, as the program was dedicated to rodeos at least as much as to the “cowboys.” Mr. Heyward went on to state:

“During production of the show, we were contacted by animal rights activists and listened to what they had to say. We reviewed tape purported to prove the animals were being abused. Although we were not convinced, we decided to conclude the broadcast by noting the complaints of the activists.”

Dismayed by Mr. Heyward’s apparent blind spot when it comes to rodeo cruelty, SHARK president Steve Hindi asked for a meeting between CBS News and 48 Hours personnel and animal protectors from around the US. The humane representatives could have expressed their concerns to the “journalists.” Rodeo video footage could have been reviewed, and the “journalists” could explain how they could NOT find rodeo’s treatment of animals abusive.

Mr. Heyward refused. Suddenly, Mr. Heyward and his fellow “journalists” at CBS News, who are supposedly dedicated to illuminating the truth and sorting out controversy, wanted to create as much distance between themselves and the issues as possible.

The 48 Hours glorification of the Rodeo Mafia is not a question of differing philosophies or ethics.  This is a case of CBS News -- while publicly claiming to be at the pinnacle of professional journalism -- being purposely disingenuous with its viewers. “Your Wildest Dreams” was nothing but a promo for animal abuse. Dan Rather, Steve Hartman, Erin Moriarty and Bill Lagatutta violated every principle of journalistic integrity.

The following is an excerpt from an article entitled "Riding, Roping – and Editing, from the May/June 2002 issue of Extra!, the magazine of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). To see the full article, click here.

On December 28, 2001, CBS News' 48 Hours helped promote cowboy culture with an entire show profiling the aspirations of three men obsessed with rodeo. Steve Hindi, president of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), an animal rights group based in Elburn, Illinois, says 48 Hours taped an extensive interview with him and Peggy Larson, a large-animal veterinarian with rodeo experience, who came to the conclusion that "rodeo events are inherently inhumane." But not one second of either interview appeared. Instead, in his wrap-up, CBS's Dan Rather used two sentences to summarize animal rights groups' complaints of rodeo as institutionalized abuse, focusing on the use of the bucking strap. "In response, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association says the device does no harm and only brings out behavior that comes naturally to begin with," Rather told his audience. "Dan Rather was supposed to be the next Walter Cronkite. But I'll never believe anything CBS News ever says again," Hindi says. Speaking of myth, rodeo proponents claim that the sport springs from real work done on real ranches in the West. But real cattlemen disagree. Mike Callicrate, a feedlot owner in St. Francis, Kansas, told Extra! that anybody treating animals the way rodeo cowboys do would be fired on the spot. "When anyone is handling an animal too roughly, we have a saying: 'Don't make a rodeo out of it.'"

The video clips on this website will allow viewers to decide for themselves if rodeos are cruel. If you believe that animals are abused at rodeos, you will understand our questioning how Mr. Heyward and the supposed journalists at CBS News and 48 Hours could miss it.

If you would like to make a comment to CBS News, we suggest you contact Mr. Heyward at:

Mr. Andrew Heyward, President
CBS News
524 West 57 Street
New York, NY 10019-2985
(212) 975-7825

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