Media watch: Cleaning up the confusion

With all the misinformation floating around about contaminated seafood due to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, state agencies across the region are reaching out to mainstream media outlets in an effort to get the facts out.

One of the most active agencies has been the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board (LSPMB).

“From the very beginning we were talking to 30 media outlets a day, and while it has tapered a little — it comes in waves depending on what’s happening with the situation — we’re talking with at least 10 outlets a day,” Ashley Roth, LSPMB communications manager, told SeafoodSource late last week.

While it hasn’t been difficult to get the information out, ensuring consumers actual see it is a challenge, because often the information gets buried in articles, explained Roth.

Terry McElroy, communications director for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, echoes that sentiment. The department has put out multiple press releases as well as conducted interviews with newspapers and radio and television stations.

“[Media outlets] say they will certainly use the information and when they do a report they will make it clear that Florida’s seafood isn’t impacted. But you don’t know if they’re really going to do that,” said McElroy.

Albeit in bits and pieces, word is getting out that Gulf seafood is available and safe to eat.

For example, the Pensocola News Journal on Thursday ran a story based on the department’s Memorial Day press release: “State officials believe that intensive news coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has left some consumers with the mistaken impression that Florida seafood it either unavailable or in limited supply. Officials remind consumers that the oil spill has not impacted all the waters of the Gulf and that Florida’s commercial fishermen continue to harvest seafood products from these clean waters.”

In addition to state officials, prominent chefs, retailers and fishermen are actively spreading the word that Gulf seafood is available and safe to eat. CNN ran a story titled “Gulf Coast chefs, fishermen fight tide of misinformation” that featured information from several sources, including the Louisiana and Florida state agencies, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, chefs, retailers, fishermen and more.

Inevitable, there are mainstream media outlets that don’t get the facts straight. For example, the Poughkeepsie Journal in New York reported that one-quarter of the nation’s seafood consumption comes from the Gulf of Mexico, which is inaccurate. About 15 percent the nation’s seafood production originates from the Gulf. Upward of 85 percent of the U.S. seafood supply is imported, so the Gulf actually represents only a sliver of the nation’s seafood consumption.

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