Bears, wolves, oh my!
This post isn’t really about bears or wolves per se, though they are the genesis for the post. Specifically, conservation efforts surrounding grizzly bears and wolves in Montana are what precipitated this piece.
I came across an interesting article in The Intercept early this year that focused on the efforts of biologist Chris Servheen, who discusses in the article the friction created recently by the changing of the political guard in Montana state leadership – from Democratic rule to Republican.
In my opinion, it was a good article. However, until reading it, I had not had the pleasure of reading an article from The Intercept. In fact, I had never heard of it.
As I do with all news sites that I have never visited, I dug a little deeper into the source (The Intercept). I like to know who funds such news sites, their mission, etc. Why is that important? It lets me know at minimum 1) who is paying for the information being produced, 2) who the stakeholders are besides the readers, and 3) what inherent biases might exist, if any.
Here is what I discovered about The Intercept. For starters, the resource does not provide information on its website about how it’s funded. Red flag there. A little more digging reveals that it is owned by the First Look Institute, a 501(c)(3) with a Washington, D.C. address. Don’t bother going to First Look’s website for more info. All you’ll get there is a page showing the names of the three-member board of directors, their photos, along with that of the founder. Another red flag. So how about the stakeholders? You won’t find that on The Intercept’s website or First Look’s either. You will find the other entities involved with First Look, but that information doesn’t answer the stakeholder question. Finally, any inherent bias will have to be implicit without knowing much more.
So, my next logical question is “Why the secrecy?” I didn’t find anything overtly subjective about the article other than it’s written mostly from the point of view of Servheen, president and board chair of the Montana Wildlife Federation. He isn’t the author of the piece, but it’s his views that drive the content.
Read the article and give me your thoughts: https://theintercept.com/2023/01/29/grizzly-bear-endangered-montana/.