medpundit |
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Sunday, February 11, 2007For several years I worked as medical correspondent at New Scientist magazine, where it was standard practice to seek several opinions on a single issue. When I moved from this ivory tower to Fleet Street I was somewhat taken aback at the "any ologist will do" attitude when obtaining quotes for a story—although I soon became aware of the time constraints that made this necessary. Another Fleet Street health correspondent whom I spoke to this week said, "When you've got three articles to write in an afternoon and news desk shouting at you for copy, you just want to get a quote that you need to make the story; the last thing on your mind is checking the background of everyone you've quoted." The correspondent added, "Anyway, how do we know that any doctor hasn't benefited financially from a drug company; I'm not sure there are that many left who haven't." A spokesman for the drug industry's UK umbrella group, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, denied the media was being manipulated. "In fact I think there's a sense that journalists will usually ring the person they think will give them the quote they want." posted by Sydney on 2/11/2007 07:30:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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