The National Fisheries Institute said Monday that recent coverage of the industry in USA Today included distortions and factual errors.
The complaints stem from an Oct. 29 article in the paper.
In a release, the industry organization stated, “The National Fisheries Institute identified a dozen specific factual errors and other breaches in journalism standards and brought those problems to the attention of supervising Gannett News Service editors. Despite this substantiated information, both USA TODAY and Gannett News Service have refused to provide correction or even explanation of their erroneous reporting.
“Those specifics are provided below and we are accordingly advising reporters, consumers and the American public to regard USA TODAY’s reporting with caution and skepticism.
“‘When public health issues of this magnitude are being reported, journalism standards ought to be at their highest,’ said John Connelly, president of NFI. ‘Instead, Gannett News Service apparently violated their own policies on accuracy, sourcing and objectivity and it highly irresponsible that they refuse to set the record straight.'”
Read more here.
