[Futurework] corporations rule -- isn't price fixing free trade?

[Darryl and Natalia]

Even a news star can be had for a buck. I know it's not good to speak ill of the dead. But, sometimes nothing is known until after the fact.   My highlights My comments. Darryl   NICHOLAS E. HOLLIS: END OF TV'S DAVID BRINKLEY'S CAREER REMINDER OF CORRUPTIVE POWER OF ADM AND CORPORATE AGRIBUSINESS   NICHOLAS E. HOLLIS, PRESIDENT, AGRIBUSINESS COUNCIL: Last week's passing of legendary TV anchorman, David Brinkley, drew major media attention extolling a brilliant career at the cutting edge of the television "news" era. But buried deep in several stories was a chilling glimpse of the growing power of agribusiness giant, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), in manipulating (corrupting) even the most trusted media heroes. In paragraph 19 of The New York Times obit (June 13) by Richard Severo, readers are reminded of Brinkley's late career stumble with his January 1998 commercial for ADM on ABC's "This Week" (with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts), the show Brinkley had moderated since 1981, culminating seventeen years of heavy sponsorship by Archer Daniels Midland (aka "Supermarket to the World"). (aka "supermarkup to the world") One viewing audience especially rivetted by Brinkley's show was the political elite in the Nation's capital.  As the program gained popularity, those interviewed by Brinkley and his panel also gained important political recognition. Appearances on "This Week" reminded some of an "inside the beltway" version of the "Peking Bulletin Board," as a litmus test of who was rising. Guest interview invitations for the show were coveted. The uproar over Brinkley's ADM infomercials forced ABC News to temporarily withdraw those segments. Colleagues asked why Brinkley would compromise his journalistic integrity/neutral image only a few weeks into "retirement." They pressed to see a copy of Brinkley's contract, after the embattled anchor stated he "hadn't done it for money." Walter Cronkite, perhaps one of the only television anchors with more recognition and public trust, commented that "even doing it in retirement might indicate a favoritism toward one company or another while we were still active." Brinkley refused to make his ADM contract deal public. Several years earlier, Brinkley's sponsor, ADM, had pleaded guilty to criminal price-fixing in animal feed ingredients and citric acid, after an undercover executive cooperating with the FBI video/audio-taped top ADM executives in secret meetings around the world conspiring to fix markets and steal from farmers on a massive scale. The company shelled out a $100 million fine (and also gained immunity for its chief, Dwayne Andreas, from further questioning or prosecution). Gee, more privilege. But in early 1998, around the air-time of the Brinkley/ADM ad, the government was gearing up for the criminal trial with indicted ADM conspirators, including heir-apparent Mick Andreas, son of Dwayne Andreas, in a Chicago federal court. Was Brinkley's ad part of a larger public relations strategy ? There's that P.R. again. In May 1998, ABC resumed airing the Brinkley ad on "This Week," yet the topic of ADM's price-fixing scandal --- the largest in US history --- strangely was never mentioned by Brinkley or his cohorts -- on the program. In fact, during the several year run-up to the Chicago trials, there was no discussion of any subject which would be considered "ADM-sensitive," such as the growing ethanol subsidy, farm subsidies, or growing concentration in the ag/food sector. Perhaps other topics were considered more appealing, but it is also possible that ADM, the show's major advertiser, was exerting some form of contractual rights or otherwise limiting "content" and "guest" appearances. Maybe ADM was aiming higher, perhaps hoping to subtley influence jury selection or other aspects of the Chicago trial?  Certainly, as it unfolded, the ADM legal strategy in Chicago, including vicious racial innuendo aimed at Asian co-conspirators, was not inconsistent with the "White Horse" ad  campaign. Fortunately, the jury didn't buy it and convicted Andreas. But was it just coincidental that Bob Dole, ADM's most bought politician, and erstwhile water-carrier for ADM's ethanol drives, led the cavalcade of repeat guests on "This Week" (more than 20 appearances) during this period and claimed he "didn't know what ADM (was) about" --- even as Andreas had been a major contributor to his campaigns over many years, including his ill-fated presidential run in 1996? Was it just coincidence that both Brinkley and Dole owned condos in a Florida beachfront property controlled by Dwayne Andreas (ADM) at that time? Keep buying those pineapples and bananas. Of course, during that entire period and up to the present, ADM ads arrogantly proclaiming the efficacy of burning corn for ethanol, as the "nature of things to come," continued pouring it on, crowding in on virtually all Sunday morning talk shows as well as the PBS McNeil-Lehrer News Hour and others. Is public policy discourse unduly influenced?  Go figure and remember the basic rule of TV : Don't bite the hand that feeds you. A free-market society, right. Perhaps the current crisis in media credibility, more narrowly confined within the print media (e.g., New York Times reporter scandal), should prompt a congressional inquiry along broader lines with special focus on sponsors' contracts and the resulting manipulation of public policy content and debate. Next time you watch another ADM infomercial, ask yourself what's really going on behind the screens and remember Lord Acton's famous quote: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Our times require extra vigilance if we want to insure our freedoms and our food/homeland security. Be there! Gee, might this be reflective of "Green Mountain Coffee"? If it means anything like the corporate attitude that was toward fruit growing in this country, then the streams will flow with pesticides and hormonal disruptants the like of which are now being banned in this country. "Corruptio optimi pessima -- Corruption of the best is the worst of all."  (Cicero)   CONAGRA, DUPONT, BIOPRODUCTS, CHINOOK GROUP WILL PAY $850,000 FINE IN VITAMIN PRICE-FIXING SETTLEMENT STEPHEN LEE, DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: A Massachusetts state court judge granted preliminary approval to a vitamin price-fixing settlement involving four vitamin producers. In a press release [June 10], Ellis & Rapacki LLP, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, said the settling defendants, DuPont, ConAgra Foods Inc. Bioproducts Inc. and Chinook Group  Ltd., will pay a total of $850,000 under the settlement. All of the companies had small shares of the bulk vitamin market, and  the $850,000 will go to Massachusetts charities for food and nutrition programs, the law firm said. A DuPont spokesman confirmed the company agreed to a preliminary approval for a settlement, but couldn't comment further. A ConAgra spokesperson wasn't immediately available. Last year, ten other major producers of bulk vitamins entered into settlements that provided more than $22 million for Massachusetts charities. The consumer class action, originally filed in June 1999, alleged that more than 40 companies engaged in a widespread international conspiracy over a ten-year period to fix prices and allocate markets for the bulk vitamins that are used in many processed products, including milk, cereals, juices and pet foods.    YEA, free-market America!   DJB