'Times' Mistakes Security Guard For Someone They Care to Talk To
Well. The Times sent some poor stringer to ask about salmon diseases at some port in Chile. Fun gig! One can understand why he was maybe inclined to get his interviews done and get the hell out. Fish smells gross! Still, he might've wanted to ask around a bit more after his interview with the "port director." He might've learned that that guy was, in fact, the security guard. "Had The Times been aware of his actual position at the time, it would not have cited him as an authority on the contents of the bags, which were labeled medicated food." Well heck, why didn't the Times just say "the port director might've said" and saved themselves the trouble of getting that pretend expert opinion? Text of the correction below.
An article on March 27 reported on a virus, infectious salmon anemia, or I.S.A., killing millions of salmon cultivated for export by Chile's salmon farming industry. It quoted an official at the port of Castro, Chile, describing bags of fish food stored at the facility by Marine Harvest, a Norwegian company, as containing antibiotics, pigments and hormones. The official, Adolfo Flores, identified himself as the port director. He in fact worked as a security guard, The Times learned subsequently. Had The Times been aware of his actual position at the time, it would not have cited him as an authority on the contents of the bags, which were labeled medicated food. The article also should have noted that Marine Harvest and SalmonChile, an industry association, deny that they use hormones or that the pigments they use pose any risk to consumers.