Marion Burros On John Stossel’s Blog

There’s more action over at John Stossel's blog when it comes to our open letter to the media about distortions found in reporting on seafood. In response to Stossel merely linking to the open letter and mentioning her flawed report on sushi tuna and mercury, Marion Burros left a message with a 20/20 producer claiming our open letter was “filled with half truths and out-right falsehoods.”

It is irresponsible -- though not surprising -- that Marion Burros would take an unsubstantiated swing at us like that. Indeed her own reporting on the issue, as we detail on our website, contained errors and omissions and we would urge readers to examine the particulars.

Also, an examination of Oceana's study and Burros' own study reveals the following facts:

• Both begin their research project in October 2007.
• Oceana visited stores and restaurants in 26 locations nationally.
• NYT visited 20 stores and restaurants in Manhattan.
• Both made specific targeted tuna orders and collected at least two fish samples at each location.
• The same store in Manhattan, Food Emporium, was visited by both.
• The same methodological analysis was used by both in laboratory settings.
• Both applied their findings against the FDA “Action Level.”
• Both announced their findings on the same day, Wednesday, January 23rd.

Perhaps Burros wants readers to believe that was all pure coincidence. In any event, her story resulted in a published correction by the Times. To read that correction, click here, and scroll to the bottom of the page. The paper's public editor also penned a column criticizing Burros' reporting for not being balanced. Even her own editor, James Gorman, was quoted in the Times itself saying, "I should have raised more questions about the general presentation." Prominent media critics like Jack Shafer and Arthur Allen also weighed in to publicly rebuke Burros' work.

We look forward to her explaining these coincidences and her colleagues’ take on her reporting.