Media Bias by Omission. Pharmalot Bias and Censorship of Dissent and the Contagion of Lawyer Advocacy Methods

There are two people less moral than the lawyer, the convicted felon and the reporter.

Ed Silverman, the reporter, allows people on his blog, who bash drug companies to make thinly veiled death threats, use foul language, and harsh personal remarks against people who disagree with the theme of the blog, "drug companies are evil."

Ed Silverman refuses to allow any questioning about the ad revenues of his newspaper from health insurance companies. These are funding a campaign to attack the promotion of brand name medications. People like Senator Grassley receive generous funding from health insurance companies. He and this blog are putting researchers through the wringer for taking drug company fees, and failing to report them.

Ed Silverman will not address his duties under the journalist code of ethics.

"— Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
— Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
— Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
— Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.
— Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
— Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage."

He removed comments that question the racial motivation of these campaigns. Because dark skinned people are more likely to quietly accept the denial of health sustaining brand medications by insurance providers, the Medicaid program is being targeted, along with its doctors who prescribe to dark skinned people exactly the same medications that they do to white people.

The lawyer advocacy culture of providing facts that supports only one's side and seeking to exclude any rebuttal has spread to the media. It expresses its bias by omission. Simultaneously, it maintains the appearance of virtue, saying, everything we say is true. It is a form of hypocrisy and bad faith learned from the lawyers.