Regret the Error

El Mercurio, a Chilean newspaper, has published an interview with a man it says is Adolfo Flores, a person who has become the focus of a controversial New York Times story about the salmon industry. Flores makes several statements in the article that directly contradict information offered by the Times. If El Mercurio has the right Adolfo Flores and his comments are true, this information raises serious doubts about how the Times story was reported.

UPDATED May 20 8:20 pm: The Times has responded to the El Mercurio story. In an email to the PR firm that has been working for Salmon of the Americas Inc., a Times editor writes that “Alexei Barrionuevo was accompanied by a photographer during his visit to the port and has notes and recordings of his conversations with Mr. Flores. Our story accurately reflected those conversations.”

The Times says the “issue is closed.” Now the questions shift back to El Mercurio and Flores…

My original post continues below, though this new information appears to answer the key questions.

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I previously wrote about the Editors’ Note issued by the Times to correct some of the errors in the article. The Note came after Salmon of the Americas Inc., an industry trade group, issued a release calling into question many facts and assertions made in the story. The release noted that Flores had been identified in the article as a “port director.” In reality, he was a security guard.

The Times Note admitted that Flores had been incorrectly identified, and an email sent by a Times editor to the trade group’s PR agency blamed this error on Flores, saying he had “apparently misrepresented himself to our reporter.” The reporter in question is Alexei Barrionuevo, whose previous work has been called into question.

In the interview with El Mercurio, Flores says he never misrepresented himself and that he has never spoken to a reporter from the Times. This is a very serious development in the story. At this point, it’s a mystery as to how Flores’ name and quotes ended up in the Times article. He says he was never interviewed; the paper says he was and that he misrepresented himself.

So: is Flores lying? Is Barrionuevo lying? Is it possible that Barrionuevo interviewed someone who used Flores’ name and made up a phony title? That last option is possible, but it seems a stretch to say the least.

Given the claims made by Flores and Barrionuevo’s past troubles, the Times needs to do a proper investigation in order to learn the truth about what happened. Step one is to verify that the Flores quoted in El Mercurio is the same man quoted in the Times story. (The online version of the article doesn’t include a photo.) Step two is seeing if Barrionuevo has a recording or notes from the interview to help prove he spoke with the man. A recording would be ideal because we all know notes can be faked, right Stephen Glass?

Note: I was sent the link to the El Mercurio story by the PR agency that also alerted me to the initial press release. I’m told they have forwarded the link to the Times and have asked for a response. I also asked the agency rep if their company had any hand in locating Flores (which he previously told me they were trying to do) and bringing him to El Mercurio. The rep said the story is solely a result of El Mercurio’s work.

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