She Says “Tomato,” They Say ”Redacted”

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When Raleigh News & Observer reporter Kristin Collins asked the North Carolina Department of Labor for their file on a agriculture company that had just been fined, she got a set of records so heavily redacted the documents were rendered all but meaningless. Included in the file was news story Collins had written three years earlier about conditions for migrant far workers with 67 words and phrases blacked out. The words too sensitive to be made public included “six men”, “several workers”, “a landlord”, “one woman”, and “tomato”. (3/23/06)