A bit of a stretch

Over at Southern Living Steve Bender known as "The Grumpy Gardener" has written an article titled, "Who wants to kill the birds?" It's about the recent fines Scotts Miracle-Gro received for selling poisoned bird seed.  In the article Steve say's, "Grumpy loves birds. He fills his feeder twice a day. So imagine his shock when he learned that Scott’s Miracle-Gro admitted to selling bird seed tainted with pesticides. Was Scott’s, the maker of a slew of popular lawn and garden products, in league with the devil? To find out, Grumpy paid the company a visit last week at their corporate headquarters in Marysville, Ohio."

It's great that Steve goes straight to the source for some investigative journalism. However, Steve mentions at the end of the article,  "Scott's paid my airfare and lodging for my visit. The Scott’s haters will immediately conclude that Grumpy was bought. Not so. I only agreed to hear Scott’s side of the story with no promise that I would report on it positively, negatively, or at all. Lots of companies in the garden industry send me stuff. If I try a product out and conclude that it’s good for my audience, I recommend it. If I don’t, you never hear about it."

Sure Steve.