CBS's Michelle Miller leaned towards supporters of taxing junk food on Tuesday's Early Show, playing three sound bites from them and none from opponents. Miller only made one vague reference to the opposing side, and she immediately followed it by playing up the supposedly positive result of a tax: "While some say a new tax is the last thing we need, it could mean a healthier America."
The correspondent led her report by hyping how "we're paying quite a hefty toll" for creating "cheap fast food," and launched into her first sound bite, which came from Michael Jacobson, the executive director of the perennial "food police" organization, the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Michael Jacobson
By Matthew Balan | July 26, 2011 | 5:34 PM EDT
By Carolyn Plocher | October 21, 2009 | 2:45 PM EDT
In performing its duty to help save us from ourselves, ABC often turns to its favorite kill-joy food police, the Center for Science in the Public Interest. And they did it again on Oct. 21, when "Good Morning America's" Lisa Stark lamented with CSPI's executive director, Michael Jacobson, about the conniving designs of the food industry to lure unsuspecting consumers into its artery-clogging, diabetes-ridden death trap.
What would that death trap be? Well, it depends on what day you tune in. It could be anything from drug-like frappuccinos to "killer" donuts to conscienceless fried chicken to unnatural soda pop to "Heart Attack Entrees with Side Orders of Stroke." (And don't forget some of the absolute riskiest: leafy greens, eggs, tuna, tomatoes, sprouts, and berries.) This time, though, CSPI decided to attack more broadly by fighting against health labels, such as "Smart Choice," "Nutritional IQ," and the American Heart Association's heart-shaped logo.
These health labels are designed by "grocery stores, scientists, or manufacturers themselves to steer health conscious shoppers to supposedly nutritious products," warned Stark.
By Jeff Poor | May 12, 2009 | 10:34 AM EDT
The food police are at it again telling us what and how to eat. This time, they're attacking the restaurant industry under the premise the general public is too ignorant to determine what is healthy and what isn't.
On May 11, both the "NBC Nightly News" and ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson" aired stories about the left-wing Center for Science in the Public Interest's (CSPI) new study, "Heart Attack Entrées with Side Orders of Stroke." CSPI's argument? The public is too naïve to determine high-sodium content dishes, so the government must step in and regulate in the name of saving government money in health costs.
"A well-known health group is out with a new warning about America's most popular chain restaurants saying many of their meals have dangerous amounts of salt," "World News" anchor Charles Gibson said. "The Center for Science in the Public Interest checked 102 meals and found 85 of them had more than a day's worth of sodium."