January 22, 2009

Apparently This Blog Does Matter

I'm not even sure what lede to write for this post, but the basic story is that a couple of days ago David Dobbs, a well-known science writer whose work I admire, wrote on his new blog "Neuron Culture" (separate from his old blog, "Smooth Pebbles") about this here blog. The occasion was Dobbs responding to critics of an earlier posting of his wherein he had defended the existence of what some call the dinosaur media--newspapers, mostly--and his hope that they don't disappear entirely. He noted:

"I too have been disappointed in the MSM's [mainstream media] failings the last few years. Yet there are times when the papers' sources and clout combine with the energy, quickness, and independence of BlogoMedia in a mutual amplification that serves the public well."

I agree with Dobbs, who writes for the New York Times and other media outlets and is the author as well of three books, that there are simply things that the MSM can do that the blogosphere cannot, primarily because of the MSM's reach and resources and the skills of individual reporters and editors. Frankly, I'd like to be back working for a major media outlet, but that's not likely to happen anytime soon and maybe never will. Newspapers are shedding reporters around the country, media companies are going into bankruptcy, the New York Times is reportedly in deep financial distress and, here in Seattle, the wonderful Seattle Post-Intelligencer is expected to be closed for good in March after being in business for 140-plus years. I can assure you that none of that bodes well for the blogosphere, but I don't want to belabor an obvious point.

What startles me is that the Craigslists, Monster.com's and Vehix.com's of the world who are directly responsible for the wounds suffered by newspapers in this country haven't put any money that I know of into producing a column inch of journalism. If you care about news and information that should trouble you immensely. If you care about the media's role as an essential check on governmental power and excess, then that should scare you as much as, say, the Patriot Act.

Anyway, Dobbs noted that I do the work I do here for low pay (oh, so true, not that I am not humbled by the donations of dozens of individuals come fundraiser time), no benefits (true, says my bad back) and minimal infrastructure (my G4 iMac is six years old and I work alone with no newsroom support or colleagues to lean on and bitch at) is somehow emblematic of blogging and how new media and old media oddly work together. He said a lot of other things as well.

"Dawdy has pressed the Zyprexa story hard since early 2006 -- it's possible no one has read or written more about it -- adding, synthesizing, and commenting on tons of information, and he pulled the sheets off in February 2007 by publishing, at what would seem to be frightening legal risk, the full set of court documents relating to Lilly's Zyprexa marketing. Presumably these are the same documents that were sent to the Times a couple months earlier, but which were not easily obtainable publicly until Dawdy posted them.

"How do you compare the contributions here? You can't get the scale to hold still. Yet it's clear that the combination of the Times expose and Dawdy's reporting and outing of the documents created a dual pressure that was crucial to the growing attention the case received, and ultimately to Lilly's extraordinary admission last week of criminal activity."

He's right that you cannot compare the contributions of the Times and myself, and it's pretty clear to me that outlets like the Times don't want you to make the comparison.

Dobbs notes elsewhere that I've not gotten hat tip one from the paper of record (plenty of credit from Timesfolk privately, however) for any of the work I've done on this site. Then again, sites like this are roundly ignored by the MSM (unless they are about politics, then they get tons of attention from the MSM) and while I get that the traditional media doesn't like to credit others, they need to accept that they and the blogosphere have a symbiotic relationship. Over the past two years, I have helped a dozen or so reporters at major media outlets with various Zyprexa stories and other stories on atypical antipsychotics (I helped another one just yesterday) and I don't think I've been credited once. It's gotten to the point where I don't even think about it much anymore and just help out the MSM unstintingly because if whatever work they end up doing results in X number of people not taking Zyprexa or Seroquel or whatever, then I've done my job.

Besides, as a former (and sometimes still-current) member of the MSM, I know what reporters are up against.

I simply have no idea now where things will wind up for me and this blog over the next year or so. The future of media in America is so very uncertain that I cannot hazard much of a guess as to where it's all going to end up or how reporters and editors and such are going to be paid an appropriate wage. But then so much in America is up in the air these days, even including hope, which I think our new President sometimes fails to recognize is still a thing with feathers.

BTW, many thanks to those of you who wrote me to alert me to Dobbs' post, which my Google alert did not pick up. And many thanks as well to Liz Spikol who offered her thoughts on this blog as well.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at January 22, 2009 01:36 AM
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Comments

I saw Dobbs' piece about you and about the synergy between MSM and this and other blogs. Despite your (unfortunately purposeful) lack of recognition in MSM, I hope you feel great pride in the role you have played in the Zyprexa scandal in particular. Though way too little has been solved, light has been shed on greed, crime, and death and it is having an impact. Thank you again, Phil. Thank you most of all for having the nerve to post the Zyprexa papers - a source worldwide for all, even the bad guys.

Posted by: Sorrowful at January 22, 2009 06:52 AM

Congratulations Philip!

Posted by: Ana at January 22, 2009 08:00 AM

do you really need this guy to confirm that this blog matters?? Not to minimize that it's great and the guy hits the nail on the head, but you have many many people who give you these kudos every day...

we didn't need this guy to tell us this blog matters.

Posted by: Gianna at January 22, 2009 08:38 AM

"we didn't need this guy to tell us this blog matters."[2]

:)

Posted by: Ana at January 22, 2009 02:44 PM

PS: Thank you guy telling others that this blog matters.

the "guy" is good!

Posted by: Ana at January 22, 2009 02:47 PM

This blog DOES matter and thank you for being you, Philip.

Posted by: susan at January 22, 2009 02:52 PM

Congratulations Philip, it's an important and even pretty thrilling experience to be recognized by someone you admire. Especially when they're working in the same business you are.

Congratulations again Philip.

Posted by: Gabriel... at January 22, 2009 03:05 PM

Awesome work.

Keep the heat on Lilly!

Posted by: Stephany at January 22, 2009 07:34 PM

PS--Keep the updates coming on AstraZeneca and Seroquel lawsuits! Start "Seroquel Chronicles" next. It's gonna be full blown off-label, diabetes inducing, drama. Worse than Zyprexa.

Posted by: Stephany at January 22, 2009 08:45 PM

Concur with Dobb completely. You are more impactful that you may fully realize. And as far as blogging goes:

Published on: www.beforeyoutakethatpill.com
The Prevention Of Ignorance
Historically, information sources provided to American citizens were limited due to the few methods available to the public, such as radio, TV, or news print. And also this information was subject to being filtered and, in some cases, delayed. This occurred for a number of reasons, which included political ones.
Now, and with arguably great elation, there is the internet, which can be rather beneficial for the average citizen.
Soon after the advent of the internet well over a decade ago, web logs were created, that are now termed ‘blogs’. At that time the blogs were referred to as personal journals or diaries visible on line. As time passed, blogs became a media medium, and blog communities evolved into addressing topics that often were not often addressed in mainstream media, as they crossed previously existing political and social lines. In addition, blogs provide immediate contributions by others, the readers of the posts of the blog authors, instead of the cumbersomeness of opinion and editorial pieces historically and not always presented in such media forms as newspapers or magazines.
The authors of blogs vary as far as their backgrounds and intent of what they choose to address on their blogs exactly, just as with other media forms. Some are employed by the very media sources that existed before them. Furthermore, they are not exonerated from the legalities of what is written, such as cases of libel. While we can presume that bloggers like to write, they may not be quality writers, yet several are in fact journalists, as well as doctors and lawyers, for example. But to write is to think, which I believe is a good quality one should have. Regardless, a type of Socratic learning seems to be occurring due to the advent of blogs.
Yet presently, blogs have become quite a driving force for those with objectives and issues often opposed by others, and therefore have become a serious threat to others. These others may be politicians, our government, or corporations- all of which have been known to monitor the content of certain blogs of concern to them for their potential to negatively affect their image or their activities previously undisclosed. This is why blogs, on occasion, have become a media medium for whistleblowers, which will be addressed further in a moment.
While one disadvantage of blogs is the potential lack of reliability, blogs however do allow in addition to the comments of its readers the posting of authentic internal or confidential documents that typically are not created to be viewed by the public, yet are acquired by certain bloggers. For example, blogger Dr. Peter Rost, a whistleblower himself, not long ago posted a newsletter published by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on his blog site, and this newsletter was given to him by AstraZeneca's employees who called themselves the ‘AZ Group of Seven’- with the intent of this group being to bring to the attention of others the illegal activity of off-label promotion of one of AZ’s cancer drugs promoted by their employer. Yet this particular concern by AZ seven, by surprise, is not what caught the attention of so many who viewed the posted newsletter by Dr. Rost and was read with great interest by others. It was instead a comment included in this newsletter that was stated by former regional AZ manager Mike Zubalagga, who was being interviewed by a district manager in this newsletter. Mr. Zubalagga, who in this newsletter posted on Dr Rost's blog site, referred to doctors’ offices as ‘buckets of money’, which caught the attention of several readers. This and other statements by this man were in fact published in this newsletter clearly not reviewed before its publication. . Again, the statement and the newsletter created by AZ was indeed authentic and further validated due to the content being in the written word, which added credibility.
Mr. Zubalagga was fired the next day due to this ‘buckets of money’ comment due to the effect it had on the image of his employer. His manager resigned soon afterwards from AZ.
Blogs, one can safely conclude, reveal secrets.
And there have been other whistleblower cases on various blogs in addition to this one described a moment ago, which illustrates the power of blogs as being a very powerful and threatening media medium of valid information disclosure that others cannot prevent from occurring.
This, in my opinion, is true freedom of information- largely free of embellishments or selective omissions. It’s a step towards communication utopia, perhaps, yet a force that has the ability to both harm and protect many others.
Yet again, the information on these blogs should not be taken as absolute truth without proof to verify claims that may be made, as with other media sources. Of course, documents that are authentic is an example of a good validation source. And this, in my opinion, is the blog’s greatest value, combined with the comments on blogs from the growing number of readers who are allowed to contribute to the subject matter so quickly, which fuels the objectives of the blogs, which may be a type of Socratic learning.
Like other written statements, some on such internet sites are composed with respect of the written word. Others are not. It's the freedom that may be most appealing of this new medium which has the ability to convert citizens into journalists who want to contribute to an issue of their concern they share with the blogger often with great conviction and accuracy.
Because we, the public, have a right to know what we are entitled to know and what we want to know. This is especially true if the information disclosed on blogs could potentially be adverse to our well-being.
Ignorance is bliss, but knowledge is power.
“Information is the seed of an idea, and only grows when it’s watered.” --- Heinz V. Berger
Dan Abshear

Posted by: Dan at January 23, 2009 03:11 PM

I don't do one of the blogs you have listed anymore. I do THIS one now. (Couldn't find your e-mail address ...

Posted by: Patricia at January 24, 2009 04:50 PM
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