CBS Reporter Takes Swipe at Drug Industry, Praises Politician in Blog Post

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CBS Reporter Takes Swipe at Drug Industry, Praises Politician in Blog

Post

Armen Keteyian lamented 'Big Pharma's' 'control' over Americans.

By Ken Shepherd

Business & Media Institute

12/15/2006 10:18:04 AM

" What can be done to break Big Pharma's growing control of our

minds and bodies? I wish I knew, " a critic of the pharmaceutical

industry wrote recently on a media blog. But the author of that post

was an ostensibly unbiased investigative journalist: CBS

correspondent Armen Keteyian.

Network blogs can be a valuable, unfiltered look at reporters'

biases, and Keteyian's December 14 post to CBS's " Primary Source " was

no exception.

" No matter how you slice it Wednesday was not a great day for

the FDA, " Keteyian began his blog post, recounting how the December

13 " Evening News " presented " back-to-back stories " on a new FDA

warning label for antidepressants and congressional criticism of

FDA's handling of Ketek, an antibiotic that can result in liver

damage to some patients.

While December 13 might not have been FDA's finest hour for

public relations, the CBS reporter failed to account for how his bias

could color his perceptions.

Keteyian, a former sportscaster, peppered his blog post with

more anti-industry commentary, insisting that " Big Pharma seems in

control [of] much of Congress, or at least its legislative agenda "

before praising Iowa Republican Grassley as a " straight-

talking " senator who has " stood up and called out " pharmaceutical

companies.

As the Business & Media Institute documented on December 14,

CBS presented a decidedly sensationalistic look at the FDA's decision

to require a " black box " warning on drugs like Paxil and Zoloft when

prescribed to patients up to the age of 25. In that December 13

report, Keteyian's colleague Sharyl Attkisson focused heavily on the

grief of distraught widows of suicidal patients while finding no air

time for expert medical testimony.

Of course, medical experts such as NBC News's chief medical

editor Dr. Snyderman have noted that many psychiatrists find

medication a crucial part of treating depression for some patients,

albeit one with risks that require careful monitoring.

That dose of reality is a bitter pill to swallow for Keteyian,

who lamented in his blog post that " America is a drug dependant [sic]

nation " that takes pills " for just about every illness known to man

or woman. "

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2006/20061215101046.aspx