Mitch Teberg, MAAssociate Member
Journey for Fair Trade:
Fairtrade International Investigation Leads toQuestions of Bloomberg's Journalistic Integrity
5 January 2012
After two days of picking cotton, child laborer Clarisse Kambirecarries a large wicker bushel of fiber from the field to a storehousealmost a mile away. Photographer: © Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story."
-Mark TwainWhen a journalist accuses Fairtrade producers of forced child labour, the charges must betaken seriously followed by a thorough investigation. However, when a reporter's story proves tobe unsubstantiated, there is a need to question the media. In relation to Bloomberg's story onchild labour on a Fairtrade certified organic cotton farm, my own inquiry found the farmers citedin the December 15th story were not certified as the article claims (Read Journey for Fair Trade:
Mitch Teberg, MAAssociate Member
Bloomberg News Falsely Accuses Fairtrade of Child Labour). Despite contacting the editorsdirectly with the discrepancy, they held to their story.On January 3rd, Bloomberg editors once again attacked Fairtrade International in an editorialciting their journalist, Cam Simpson's investigation into child labour in Burkina Faso.In recent years, the fair-trade movement has presented itself as an answer, offering, at apremium, goods and commodities certified to have been produced without exploitation. It is thusall the more appalling thata fair trade program in Burkina Faso has been shown, in aninvestigation published in Bloomberg Markets Magazine, to have used child laborers to producecotton that wound up in most of the cotton-underwear lines sold by Victoria’s Secret.The scandal is areminder that fair-trade stamps are only meaningful to the extent theunregulated organizations that grant them abide by their promise to enforce their ownstandards. The largest of these, Fairtrade International, which certified the Burkina Faso cotton,is investigating its mistake.However, further inquiries have found the real scandal is Bloomberg's reporter falsifying andsensationalizing the entire story. On the same day of Bloomberg's editorial, the findings of Fairtrade International investigationwas published. The results raise many serious questionsabout the journalistic integrity of Bloomberg's Editors Flynn McRoberts and Melissa Pozsgay,their reporter Cam Simpson, and photo journalist, Chris Ratcliffe. For the sake of transparency, Ihave republished the press release from Fairtrade International investigation here:
Mitch Teberg, MAAssociate Member
Fairtrade International Counters Allegationsin Bloomberg article on Burkina Faso cotton
03 January 2012
Inaccordance with its internal Child Protection Policy and Procedures, FairtradeInternational followed up on the allegations made in the Bloomberg article, “Victoria’sSecret Revealed in Child Picking Burkina Faso Cotton,” published on 15 December 2011. Wehave found substantial contradictions in the facts presented in the articlebased on the information we have obtained from our field assessment.Fairtrade International takes any allegations on the violation of human rights of the childvery seriously. Following Cam Simpson’s allegations, we travelled with leading officialsof UNPCB to the village of Benvar in Burkina Faso. We met the Fairtrade cottonproducers and impacted children and families identified in the Bloomberg article. Theaim of our trip wasto conduct an assessment, develop a remediation process for impacted children, and provide support to UNPCB to further develop their actions plansto eliminate child labour and implement child protection measures.Fairtrade conducted child safe interviews with the people identified in the article aschildren (persons below the age of 18). We can report that at the time of our interviewsthe “girl” and her family identified in the article were secure and safe. However, theinformation they gave us regarding the facts reported and the methods the journalistused concerns us greatly.
Clarisse Kambire, 13, a child laborer, sits on a bench in the roomwhere she sleeps in the home of her foster parent and his family.Photographer: © Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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Fairtrade International Investigation Leads to Questions of Bloomberg's Journalistic Integrity
Unless the bar for journalistic integrity is exceptionally low, it is intolerable for any editor to accept a journalist's claim of six weeks investigating the subject of forced child labour on Fairtrade certified organic cotton fields…
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