investigative journalist and author
Investigative journalist and author of The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business
PROFILE
Christopher Leonard
Guest
FROM Christopher Leonard
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Meat Racket Host Madeleine Brand looks at news, culture and emerging trends through the lens of Los Angeles, weekdays at noon.
Which Way, L.A.?
How Safe Is California Beef? The Agriculture Department is conducting a criminal investigation into Rancho Feeding, one of California's few slaughterhouses. It's now closed. Two separate recalls — involving nine million pounds of beef — have now reached to 35 other states and Guam. The recall has been linked to cattle with eye cancer, but no human health consequences have been reported.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Meat Racket A handful of companies control the vast majority of meat production in this country. And with size comes influence. Take, for instance, Tyson Foods, the biggest meat producer in the country. Writer Christopher Leonard takes a look at what consolidation means for consumers and for chickens.
Recommended
The Organist
The New World Where do speech balloons come from? How does time move from panel to panel? This week we explore the techniques of comic-book storytelling through Chris Reynolds’s graphic series, newly anthologized as The New World. Join us as we travel deep into the artist’s world to find the source of these bizarrely mundane comics’ depth and beauty.
Film Reviews
The Girl In the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story “The Girl In the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story” is a reference to the terrific series that started years ago with “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” The central character in the new installment has the same name, but she’s changed and a lot around her has changed, none of it for the better.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
‘A Private War’ director on whether the danger of war reporting is worth it What does it take to be a war correspondent? What kind of person is drawn to cover death and destruction? And does the reporting make any difference? They’re questions raised in “A Private War.” It stars Rosamund Pike as Marie Colvin, who’s covered atrocities in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Rep. Schiff’s priorities for the House Intelligence Committee In January, Burbank Congressman Adam Schiff is expected to be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. We ask what investigations he will open, and what recourse there will be if Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker shuts down Mueller’s Russia probe.