Why It Is Important To Look Who’s Talking

My husband and I occasionally pick up hard copies of publications, as we did of this one.

My hard copy is marked on the front page as No. 15 Mid March, 2018.

Pages 12 and 13 of this newspaper are marked as “HEALTH” in the upper right-hand corner.

On page 12 there is an article headlined “Reducing red tape for traveling nurses.”

On page 13 there is an article headlined “New UC-Irvine Center to study the highs and lows of pot.”

At the lower right corner of page 12 it says “KHN” coverage in California is supported in part by the “Blue Shield of California Foundation.

At the lower part of page 13, we learn that “KHN” stands for “Kaiser Health News.

These two pages look like standard news reporting.

Nurses often have difficult and stressful lives, and probably deserve anything that makes their lives easier.

After all, their lives still include at least some working with doctors.

But the above data means that this is an advertisement by Kaiser — not exactly unbiased reporting.

The article about upcoming marijuana study seems more than a bit negative.

Me — I’m a credentialed pharmacologist. I have written on marijuana and it is a matter of public record that I have functioned as a marijuana doctor.

We have several centuries of research and it seems to and does have numerous medical applications that are very real, as far as I can determine. Good research has been done in many countries where they know how to do research.

I have never used it myself and have no desire to do so.

This advertisement is in space bought and paid for by healthcare services. They are coming across as anti-marijuana. The only reason that I can see for some people to be “opposed” to marijuana is religious or moral or political. Not pharmacological.

It is disguised as “reporting.”

I love things like the internet or even print media. I love the idea of mass communication.

I am deeply offended by how this article has been presented.

Look for tiny clues in the corner of a page to remind you where an article might come from.

For many years, I have talked to my colleagues about always checking out who has paid for research, as that might indeed (and often seems to) affect outcome.

You need, to be an intelligent and critical member of the public, to know the difference between reporting and advertisement.

I have a vivid memory of having read some years ago about television news advertisers, how they have driven what was said in the news, even, provided content.  The internet has magnified this phenomenon.