Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"It's been pretty well established that publication bias is associated with industry funding," says Brown University epidemiologist Kay Dickersin, about drug companies squashing unfavorable research results. Yet the "overwhelming majority" of drug researchers receive industry funding, according to Canadian clinical pharmacist Muhammad Mamdani.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
In Iraq, private military contractors "are protecting key leaders, escorting convoys, guarding military installations or oil pipelines, training Iraqi forces, interrogating prisoners ... some have become entangled in firefights," reports Contra Costa Times. "The potential role of contractors in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and the legal obstacles to prosecuting them for reported abuses ...
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Franklin Foer has written a lengthy and unflattering profile of New York Times reporter Judith Miller, less than a week after an editors' note in her newspaper criticized some of her Iraq-related reporting. Foer identifies former Executive Editor Howell Raines as the key enabler for some of her shoddiest work.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The New York Times, which published a mea culpa on May 26 for its flawed reporting that helped promote war fever against Iraq, has now published a second, harder-hitting self-criticism by Times ombudsman Daniel Okrent. "The failure was not individual, but institutional," Okrent writes. "War requires an extra standard of care, not a lesser one.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Declaring "it is past time" to shine "the bright light of hindsight ... on ourselves," The New York Times assessed its pre-war and early invasion Iraq coverage as "in most cases ...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Denver Post reports that one "hallmark" of the Bush administration is a rapidly spinning revolving door. There are "more than 100 high-level officials ... who [now] govern industries they once represented as lobbyists, lawyers or company advocates. ...
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Department of Agriculture ruled that the U.S. Forest Service did not violate federal law when it paid $90,000 to PR firm OneWorld Communications to promote increased logging in California's Sierra Nevada forests.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Congress' investigative arm, the General Accounting Office, determined that video news releases (VNRs) touting the new Medicare law, which ran as news reports on some 40 stations, violated a ban on government funded "publicity and propaganda." The Hill notes, "VNRs are standard practice in the public-relations industry and local news reports often rely on them. ...
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Los Angeles Times editor John Carroll has penned a blistering critique of "pseudo-journalism" in the United States: "All across America, there are offices that resemble newsrooms, and in those offices there are people who resemble journalists, but they are not engaged in journalism. ... You may have guessed by now that I'm talking about Fox News. I am, but I am also talking about a broad array of talk shows and websites that have taken on the trappings of journalism but, when studied closely, are not journalism at all."
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"A whistleblower who uncovered evidence that major drug companies sought to influence government officials has been removed from his job and placed on administrative leave," reports Jeanne Lenzer. "Allen Jones, an investigator at the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General (OIG), was escorted out of his workplace on 28 April and told 'not to appear on OIG property' after OIG officials accused him of talking to the press. ...
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