Center for Consumer Freedom v. Marion Nestle [1]

Dr. Marion Nestle, who publishes the blog What To Eat [2], criticized the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) in a blog post [3], accusing the CCF of, among other things, receiving its funding from and serving as a mouthpiece for the tuna industry.

CCF's director of research, David Martosko, sent Nestle an email [4] stating that the allegations in her blog post were false and libelous and "seem calculated to do harm to our reputation." According to the text of the email Nestle posted on her blog, Martosko also wrote:

The above examples have clearly crossed the line into libel territory, and could lead to legal action. If you have documentation that you believe substantiates your claim, I would be very interested to see it. But I am quite certain that you do not. I advise you to either post a correction or withdraw your January 24 piece entirely.

As of May 2, 2008, Nestle had not removed the disputed statements. Interestingly, Martosko engaged in an extended conversation with Nestle's readers in the comments section below the post [5] in which Nestle reproduced his email.