Corporate news-making?

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2009/06/the-culture-of-blame-game.html

K Ackermann says...

I think the explanation is such a stretch that I suspect Harold James must have feelings of guilt and denial.

I've got a much simpler theory: corporatism.

Public policy and regulations being shaped by corporate interests is a certain recipe for disaster.

Beside shaping policy, how much of our news and perception is shaped too? Let me show you something interesting I captured the other day...

I thought it was a little strange that Bloomberg had two separate top headlines about drugs and lung cancer. One drug helped, and the other hurt. I captured the screen here, and note the time in the upper left.

While I was saving the screenshot, Bloomberg updated my browser and they had another lung cancer drug headline. They had actually swapped out one for another, as shown in this screenshot just a moment later.

I couldn't help but get the impression that this stuff is strategically placed as headlines in an opertunistic way.


The drug industry has done a lot of this in the past, where they pay for news and casual mention. Are they doing it with top sources on the web too?

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z115/MouseOfSuburbia/lungnews1.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z115/MouseOfSuburbia/lungnews2.jpg