|
Some broadcast journalists, including Aaron Brown of CNN
and Walter Cronkite, are hired to host videos that resemble
news programs but are actually paid for by drug manufacturers
and other health care companies.
The journalists are paid to provide an introduction to the
programs, which feature health care companies and products.
Along these lines, some drug marketing companies hire local
television and radio journalists to appear in video Webcasts
that can be viewed through the Web sites of many large newspapers,
such as The Los Angeles Times and The Miami Herald.
In the Webcasts, which are paid for by drug companies, the
journalists interview doctors and patients about their products
and viewers often have the option of clicking on links to
go to the supporting drug company’s Web site or choosing
to be sent additional information about the drug.
Federal drug regulations prohibit drug companies from advertising
experimental drugs or promoting drugs for certain illnesses
that have not been approved for such treatments. According
to government officials, the programs might violate such regulations.
Additionally, the programs might violate public broadcasting
rules, which require that corporate sponsors be disclosed.
Moreover, the programs can be misleading because promotional
footage is made to look like news.
According to the programs’ makers, the videos are educational
rather than promotional, and the drug companies do not control
the content of the programs.
New
York Times May 7, 2003
| 