This morning, Peter Rost — Pfizer whistleblower and anti-drug industry blogger — appeared live on Fox Business News, which as we all know is “Fair and Balanced.” Unfortunately, they gave much more air time to the two Fox hacks, who tripped all over themselves trying to put a positive spin on the Vytorin debacle, than to Rost.
Here’s the video (parts 1 and 2):
Rost managed to get a few points across, but his “fair balance” perspective was about as prominent as “fair balance” in the DTC ads Fox was talking about.
All through the piece, Fox showed various Vytorin ads and scrolled down pages of the product Web site. This product placement, I believe, was much more attention-getting than Rost!
You’ll also hear tidbits like this: “TV is a great place to sell these products and get the message out.” and TV networks “certainly would not support a drug that had sketchy results to be promoted on television. They understand the power of their platform.” “Right,” said the host. Peter, however, did not get a chance to respond to that!
Peter, in the future you may want to stick to 60 minutes!
