-Caveat Lector-
FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTION ALERT:
ABC Gives Drug Industry View on AIDS Drugs Dispute
March 8, 2001
On its March 7 broadcast, ABC's World News Tonight tried to give its viewers
some background on the legal battle over pharmaceutical patents and AIDS
drugs in Africa. But viewers only heard from one side in the debate: the
drug companies and their supporters.
The report, by ABC's Deborah Amos, relied on three sources: a spokesperson
from the South African Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, the
executive vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA) and an analyst from the Cato Institute, a
conservative-libertarian think tank. All three promoted the same theme: Drug
companies should not be blamed for trying to protect their patents.
Excluding critics in this dispute is baffling. Activists from around the
world are gathered in South Africa now, as 39 pharmaceutical companies have
taken the South African government to court over its plan to allow
production of generic versions of AIDS drugs, a practice known as compulsory
licensing. The activists argue that the escalating health crisis in Africa,
where 25 million people are estimated to be HIV positive, gives the
government the right to pursue such a policy, which they say is completely
legal under current international trade laws.
Experts who represent this point of view are readily available to the media:
The Institute for Public Accuracy, a D.C.-based press advisory group, issued
a press release on March 6 offering interviews with prominent critics of the
drug industry's position
(<A HREF="http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR030601.htm">
http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR030601.htm</A> ).
A shorter companion segment, by correspondent Jim Wooten, did describe the
human cost of high drug prices in Malawi, but did not include any drug
industry critics who might have explained how AIDS medicine could be made
affordable.
This isn't the first time ABC has presented mainly the drug company view on
this issue. On July 8, 1999, World News Tonight aired two segments that
essentially argued that making cheaper drugs available would have little
impact on public health in African countries. The segments were dominated
by sources from the pharmaceutical industry and its supporters, though one
South African government official was quoted criticizing the drug companies.
(See <A HREF="http://www.fair.org/activism/aids-africa.html">
http://www.fair.org/activism/aids-africa.html</A> .)
In his March 7 introduction, ABC anchor Peter Jennings called the story of
AIDS in Africa "one of the profound questions of our time." Unfortunately,
ABC sought the answers from only one side of the dispute.
ACTION: Please contact ABC World News Tonight and encourage them to include
critics of the pharmaceutical industry in their ongoing coverage of the AIDS
crisis in Africa.
CONTACT
Peter Jennings
ABC's World New Tonight
47 W. 66 St., New York, NY 10023
Phone: 212-456-7777
Fax: 212-456-4297
<A HREF="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
ABC News:
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
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