BMJ confirms media's cozy relationship to Big Pharma

The relationship between doctors and drug company marketers is finally falling under increased scrutiny, but a new group is stepping in to take drug company money -- journalists and media organizations looking for easy funding. The Australian, a newspaper in Australia run by the Murdoch empire, has accepted an undisclosed amount of sponsorship money from the drug industry for a series of articles on health policy. The idea was first proposed at a meeting between advertising agents. Many are saying that such financial closeness between journalists and the companies they report on raises concerns. According to an article in the British Medical Journal: “... [W]hat we’re witnessing is a slow and subtle attempt to buy influence and goodwill within the media, which in general have become increasingly rigorous in their coverage of the unhealthy aspects of pharmaceutical marketing ... Spreading around cash, free travel, and sponsorship has an effect -- if it didn’t, the industry wouldn’t do it.”

Steve - we have been commenting on this issue for a while now. When journals like BMJ starts to comment, it is already endemic to the industry.