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Feb-12-2009 07:16TweetFollow @OregonNews Time for Pharmaceutical Ads on TV to GoPerspective by Tim King Salem-News.comIf our leaders are serious about bringing about 'Change' then they need to take an ax to this immoral and greedy practice.
(SALEM, Ore.) - There was a time when television broadcasters were giants among men. The story of Edward R. Murrow; a hero to most of us who make our livings in electronic journalism, is one of utter integrity and ultimate self-sacrifice. Murrow didn't think the medium should be taken lightly. He believed he and television had a serious responsibility to Americans. Today it is 'anything for a buck' all too often in TV, and the industry keeps tightening its belt over falling revenues. It isn't hard to understand. But even though their producers pay TV stations for the time, infomercials and pharmaceutical commercials in the opinion of many people, erode the foundation that a television station needs to lay. In case you didn't know this, most infomercials with testimonials are fake; the people are actors. What has happened to television is a travesty on a scale that most of us never imagined. Perhaps many Americans accept it simply because it exists and because big pharmaceutical ads are so extremely common, but there was a time when commercials that cause people to self-diagnose their illnesses and then request specific prescription products would have never been tolerated. Mike Adams with the Health Ranger, reported January 30th 2007, "The advertising practices of drug companies are so outrageous that even David Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, penned an editorial condemning them. In fact, Kessler says television ads never should have been allowed by the FDA in the first place . Adams explains that the television drug ads were legalized by the FDA in late 1997, after Kessler left his position there. In case you didn't know, the United States is the only industrialized nation in the world to allow drug ads on television. Our government needs to turn back the clock in this country and establish guidelines that put an end to this strange practice that makes big pharma fat and puts people at risk. One I heard the other day really took the cake. According to the ad, their product, a pill that causes heart failure, did so the same way several of their competitors did. Rather than the speedy voice at the end rushing through the disclaimer, they took extra time to say that their product was no more dangerous than their competition. In another one of these pharmaceutical self-dianosis ads, a pill for men who experience bladder problems was recommended to any man who has to urinate frequently or whose urination starts and stops. That is awfully vague, and I sincerely doubt it would be a good idea for me to run down to my doctor's office and ask her to prescribe that specific medicine. I have faith in doctors and we have choice in who we see in this country, and we have the options of getting multiple medical opinions. I'm sorry that this out of control "Little Blue Pill" phenomenon has been allowed to go so far for so long. Ed Murrow, who lived from 1908 to 1965, was the kind of leader the television industry needed in the 1950's. Today, similar people need to take the lead and break ground and make stands over issues. Regardless of how it goes, TV is going to be around for a long time and the digital revolution is a fantastic aspect of technological achievement with the 16 x 9 screens. If the future of TV remains packed with big pharma ads causing Americans to go out and seek drugs because of television advertising, then the end of TV which is already slowly being overtaken by the Internet, will happen all the quicker. If our leaders are serious about bringing about 'Change' then they need to take an ax to this immoral and greedy practice. Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 in Afghanistan with Oregon troops. Tim recently returned from Iraq where he covered the war there while embedded with an Oregon Guard aviation unit. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com Articles for February 11, 2009 | Articles for February 12, 2009 | Articles for February 13, 2009 | Quick Links
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Vic February 16, 2009 7:29 am (Pacific time)
Another incredible fact...we are 5 percent of the world's population, but we have HALF the world's lawyers!!! WTF?
Vic February 15, 2009 6:24 am (Pacific time)
I agree Curmudgeon...we were surprised how cheap insurance was in Mexico..full coverage with all the frills was $20 per month for both of us...nearly one tenth what it would cost here. The reason? They dont have frivolous lawsuits like we do...People arent so lawsuit-oriented as we are. And everyone saves.
Curmudgeon February 14, 2009 10:38 am (Pacific time)
I couldn't agree more. But while we're at it, let's also take a hard look at allowing lawyers to advertise on TV. It's bad enough opening the yellow pages and finding a significant percentage of the entire contents to be lawyer ads, but I want to puke every time I see an ad on TV with some lawyer asking us to let him sue someone for us.
Henry Ruark February 13, 2009 10:36 am (Pacific time)
D.C.: Agree absolutely both malign political cabals (no longer really parties reflecting Constitutional resposibility sense) are guilty of allowing desperate degeneration of what FCC should and now MUST do. Was fortunate to work witn strong FCC chairman Minow ("tv is wasteland") before he was appointed; he helped us win NDEA approval, with Sen. Morse of Oregon, as counsel then for E.Brit.Films.
Skipper Osborne February 13, 2009 10:04 am (Pacific time)
Tim, I agree with your article 100%. I would like to add; after individuals have seen the pharmceutical adds, they "self diagnois," run to their "doctors" and request the medication (the doctors just happens to have "freebies" of said medication. After client has used the medication, more than likely they will return to their doctors, and no it is not "Hammer Time" it is "Prescription Time."
Dennis Couch February 12, 2009 9:28 pm (Pacific time)
Who in their right mind could conceive that pharmaceuticals would be pandered to the public. I would prefer decisions like this be left to my physician. By the way Mr. Ruark, I believe that the FCC okayed the Ads 1999 after two year trial period. The Chairman at the time was a Clinton appointee, William E. Kennard. "Mr. Kennard previously served as the FCC's general counsel from 1993 to 1997. In November 1997, President Clinton appointed Mr. Kennard as chairman." http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/current.php?artType=viewandartMonth=AugustandartYear=2007andEntryNo=7094 Here is the linkie for the FCC drug announcement http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6398/is_199908/ai_n25588797?tag=content;col1 Damn Republicans, now they are even rewriting history!
Henry Ruark February 12, 2009 8:29 am (Pacific time)
Great report, Tim ! Can state you are "right on the money" --which is of course the main reason our TV channels are now so distorted/perverted --and not only via advertising, either. Happened I met Murrow a time or two early-on,with great continuing admiration for his work ever after. We need to kick hell out of FCC and its open political bent under Bush and younger Powell, named to perpetrate further futilities there. Open Internet depends on personal interposition of our own values via constant attention and strong declarations to FCC NOW.
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