Spotlight: One of the Biggest Exposés in B2B Journalism

Hear the story behind the story that exposed government inaction on unsafe baby foods. Our upcoming webinar will share insights and lessons learned from one of the biggest investigations in B2B journalism in recent years.

“For decades, the FDA knew about the hazards of heavy metals in baby food. Yet little was done about it.”

In early 2023, Bloomberg Law’s reporting brought this problem into the spotlight. After coming across a lawsuit where a California mother alleged her son became autistic from eating rice cakes with high levels of metals, journalists at Bloomberg Law came together to investigate. They commissioned an independent laboratory to test 33 kinds of foods. They ultimately discovered “all but one of 33 baby food products … were found to contain at least two of three heavy metals: lead, arsenic, and cadmium.”

Citing Bloomberg Law’s reporting, congressional leaders in the House and Senate demanded that then-FDA Commissioner Robert Califf stop slow-walking an initiative the agency launched in 2021 to remove heavy metals from baby food. Two weeks after their story was published, FDA released new guidelines around lead in baby foods. Bloomberg Law’s work was also recognized by ASBPE with our Journalism That Matters Award in 2024 — a prestigious award that recognizes B2B journalism that leads to concrete change and has only been awarded five times since its creation in 2009.

In our upcoming webinar, hear the story behind the story: How did Bloomberg Law realize there was a big story to be investigated? How did the team of journalists work together to piece together and report this in-depth investigation? What ripple effects did the organization witness from the story? What lessons did they learn from the project, and what advice would they give to other publications pursuing complex investigations?

Featuring panelists:

• Kaustuv Basu is a senior enterprise reporter for Bloomberg Industry Group who works on explanatory and investigative stories. Most recently, he wrote a series of stories on the Camp Lejeune toxic water lawsuits, which led to changes in how the government administers the program and another piece with other reporters on the presence of heavy metals in baby foods.
• Celine Castronuovo is a state health policy trends reporter for Bloomberg Industry Group. Over the past year, she has conducted in-depth reporting on state policies and litigation surrounding reproductive health, prescription drug affordability, gender-affirming care, and more. Prior to this role, she spent two years covering the Food and Drug Administration and federal drug pricing policy, during which she helped lead two investigations into the FDA that resulted in long-awaited agency guidance and the introduction of new legislation in Congress.
• Gary Harki is an investigations editor for Bloomberg Industry Group. His previous stops include Spotlight PA, The Virginian-Pilot, The O’Brien Fellowship at Marquette University and The Charleston Gazette. Harki's 2020 investigation into the strip-searching of children by Virginia prisons led to the halt of the practice and numerous changes to state law. In 2019, he won the Al Nakkula Award honoring outstanding police reporting for his series on jailing people with mental illness.
  

This webinar will be moderated by ASBPE President and Industry Dive Editor-in-Chief Davide Savenije.

Registration:
Members: Free (Join today!)
Non-Members: $10.00
Register by Mon., Jan. 20 to attend.