By: Joe Strupp The New York Times got a lesson in checking sources when a port security guard in Chile claimed he was the port's director, according to an editor's note published Tuesday that revealed the error.
In a March 27 Times story about an infectious virus that is killing salmon in Chile's salmon farming industry, reporter Alexei Barrionuevo quoted Adolfo Flores, who said he was the director of the Port of Castro, Chile, the note stated. It added that he was "describing bags of fish food stored at the facility by Marine Harvest, a Norwegian company, as containing antibiotics, pigments and hormones."
The Times revealed that: "he in fact worked as a 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." The editor's note later stated: "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."
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