Headlines

Emerging evidence suggests that media coverage of medicine is increasingly promotional in nature. Recent Australian examples include misleading newspaper articles on an experimental cancer vaccine and a high profile television current affairs segment on a new influenza drug, which failed to disclose the industry ties of a key expert featured in the report.

Burson-Marsteller has hired Jordana Friedman, a veteran of several non-governmental advocacy organizations, as a director in its U.S. corporate and financial practice. She joins B-M from the Council on Economic Priorities, a U.S.-based corporate social responsibility research organization, where she served as director of the London office.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has posted on the Internet a database of more than 1,100 professors and scientists who consult for or have other affiliations with chemical, gas, oil, food, drug, and other companies. The web site also provides partial information about nonprofit and professional organizations that receive industry funding. The well-documented database is part of CSPI's Integrity in Science project and is designed for activists, journalists, policy makers, and others who are concerned about potential conflicts of interest.

Surveys of working journalists have found that they experience pressure from powerful interests to push some stories and ignore others, and to shape or slant news content. The sources of pressure include the government, corporate advertisers, and media owners themselves. Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting prepared this special report.