Doctoring the Spin

In Australia, pharmaceutical companies are barred from advertising drugs directly to the public. But they don’t need to. The media does the job for them. The recipe is simple. All the companies have to do is use phrases such as independent study and medical breakthrough, and journalists queue up to be manipulated. Then take an expert to talk up the product, add a victim who needs it, stir in some research findings commissioned by the drug company, and you have an advertisement dressed up as a legitimate news story