Muckraking.  As American as apple pie.  A heritage of ink-stained wretches producing hidden jewels of information in black & white, seven days a week, despite the odds presented by a corrupt and broken daily machine.  It is essential to recognize that today, amidst the now-routine premature announcements of the death of journalism, we have stars in our midst that just…do the work.

            Underlying our gold rush of blogging, punditry, and professional bloviation, there are, amazingly, actual journalists who dig things up—ugly things, systemic things, sinister things—the raw material of private discourse at the kitchen table and bought-and-paid-for corporate speech whispered into a senator’s ear.

            One of those actual journalists is New York Times reporter Michael Moss.  His story, “E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection,” published on October 3^rd, represents the best of journalism's investigative tradition.

“Woman’s Shattered Life Shows Ground Beef Inspection Flaws” -- NYT

            Moss’s story, incorporating the honored tradition of “no ideas but in people,” highlights the tragic case of Minnesotan Stephanie Smith, who, at the age of 20, was stricken with a deadly E. coli strain after eating a grilled hamburger.  The children’s dance teacher was afflicted by the most deadly and complex of E. coli-related complications--hemolytic uremic syndrome.  The toxins generated by the condition caused convulsions so severe that doctors induced a nine-week coma, during which time her nervous system failed, leaving her paralyzed.  Despite a heroic devotion to recovery, Stephanie Smith may never dance again.

          Stephanie Smith, photo credit: Ben Garvin for the New York Times

       From this tragic point of departure, Moss digs into the complex world of food processing and finds that, in the words of an expert at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Jeffrey Bender,  “Ground beef is not a completely safe product.” The reason it isn’t safe is that the USDA plays for both teams.  It is responsible for promoting the production of meat at the same time it is the regulator for the industry.  But Michael Moss didn’t say that.  He just gave me all the necessary information so that I could.

            Minnesota-based and privately-held food conglomerate Cargill is the central focus of Moss’s investigation.  Its American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties (sold widely in the frozen food section) contained the E. coli toxin that nearly killed Stephanie Smith. 

            What makes this piece unique is that Moss traces the history of the meat that infected Stephanie—all the way to Uruguay in one strand of the story.  He connects the dots in an exquisitely simple fashion to make the case that none of the parties—slaughterhouses, Cargill, or the USDA—really had the interests of the public at heart.  Instead, the USDA went easy on meat processors; Cargill eschewed testing incoming products from slaughterhouses, and used, literally, bottom-of-the barrel meat components. 

            Moss digs to find source materials, such as a communication between a USDA administrator who, facing an unresponsive Cargill, writes, “Your company has not addressed the issue that finished product has tested positive for E. coli O15:H7 and positive product has been found in commerce.  How is food safety not the ultimate issue?”

            Despite such USDA rigor after the fact, Moss leaves us with a picture of systemic failure—one that occurs within a deeply conflicted and compromised regulatory structure.  Yet, Moss does not make these judgments; he merely paints a clear and compelling picture of commercial negligence.  That he does so by connecting the dots in a spare, sequential presentation is a testament to good old-fashioned journalistic methodology.

Source Documents Reveal Broken Links in the Food Chain

            In a touch of revelatory synergy, the online version of the article includes various links to a 106-page dossier of primary research documents.  Not only that, but Moss provides convenient links to meaningful citations that reveal instantly the value of the accessory document.  This takes verisimilitude in journalism to heights that were unimaginable in the days of ink alone.  After a Freedom of Information suit yields only heavily redacted documents, Moss acquires clean copies from other sources.  Here is a sample of the information contained within, from a USDA letter to Brett Chambers, General Manager of Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation:

The raw product HACCP plan at your establishment is deemed inadequate due a failure of the specified Critical Control Point #1 to control the food safety hazard of E. coli O15:H7 from being introduced from an outside source into your establishment, and subsequently into commerce, as required by 9 CFR 417.2 (c)(2)(2).

~Craig White, D.V.M., District Manager, USDA

            This message, written in the bone-dry administratese of the regulatory industry, effectively points to the smoking gun—Critical Control Point #1—actually the first of a number of smoking guns in the failure chain.  This type of information is presented in a companion graphic presentation, “Anatomy of a Burger”, that appeared on October 4^th.  This piece neatly encapsulates the complex grindery of ingredients that makes up—or contaminates—the average hamburger.

            Ground beef is the most popular cut of beef consumed in the U.S.  According to the American Meat Institute, Americans consume 7.5 billion pounds of the stuff annually.  According to the Times article, some 70,000 people in the U.S. experience the wonders of E. coli poisoning each year.  Two people died in New York in an outbreak just this September.  Most of these cases are preventable.  And though few experience symptoms as serious as those suffered by Stephanie Smith, Moss and the New York Times have done the nation a great service with this reportage.   Both deserve recognition for their commitment to a decidedly unglamorous story.  It should be noted that Gabe Johnson contributed to the article.

The Echo Effect of Excellence in Journalism

            The article generated tens of thousands of Google-registered responses, references, and amplifications of the message it contained.  At Open Salon, Dennis Loo coined perhaps the most perfect—and Naderesque— header for his post, “Unsafe at Any Temperature: Hamburgers and Our Health.”

            Informed bloggers like Nicole Johnson of OpEd News.com added sharp perspectives to the chorus of responses:

Readers of the New York Times were recently treated to a rarely glimpsed view of how the globally-sourced industrial food complex assembles the raw ingredients of the omnipresent hamburger. In his startling expose entitled “E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Ground Beef Inspection,” Michael Moss provides a window from which to witness well-hidden meat industry practices that most people, judging from some six hundred comments left on the New York Times website within 24 hours of the article's publication, find thoroughly repulsive.

            The article led Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, to introduce a law designed to end some of these dangerous practices in the meat industry. Could such a law pass?  Think health care reform, gang.  If you don’t have 60, you  don’t have nothing.  And I don’t suppose you want to hear that Canada has largely solved the source tracing issue in E. coli prevention by using radio-tagged collars on cattle.

            The fourteen categories within the Pulitzer Prize competition for journalistic excellence should serve to remind us that in these diminished days of print, there remains a world of value to lose.  Professional investigative journalists, underpaid and understaffed, continue, at times, to deliver the goods where it matters most.

            The category for which I would nominate this article is the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism:  “For a distinguished example of investigative reporting by an individual or team, presented as a single article or series, in print or online or both.”  One wishes that there could be two categories, one for a single article, and one for a series, because I can think of some stunning series related to the economic meltdown this year, but there it is.  In recognition of great chops, and big-time public service…

            Mr. Moss, hats off.  I hope I am not jinxing you.

UPDATE:  (12/5/09)  An attorney for Stephanie Smith filed a $133 million dollar suit against Cargill on Friday.  The suit seeks $100 million in compensatory damages and $33 million to cover past and future medical bills.  The suit does not seek punitive damages.  The suit was announced by Seattle attorney Bill Marler, who specializes in food safety cases.  Marler categorized Smith’s injuries as the most serious he had ever seen in a patient who survived an E. coli contamination.  According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, her medical bills have surpassed $2 million.  Hear Stephanie's feelings about Cargill in this New York Times-produced video about Stephanie’s case on Marler’s website. 

 UPDATE 2:  (04/12/09) Michael Moss & staff at the New York Times did win! The only wrinkle is that he won in the Explanatory Reporting  category.  We'll take the credit anyway.  Here is the announcement:

Awarded to Michael Moss and members of The New York Times Staff for relentless reporting on contaminated hamburger and other food safety issues that, in print and online, spotlighted defects in federal regulation and led to improved practices. (Moved by the Board from the Investigative Reporting category.)

http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2010-Explanatory-Reporting