CNN to
Reveal When Guests Promote Drugs for Companies
By MELODY
PETERSEN
 fter
learning that some celebrities who talked on its news programs about
their health problems were being paid by drug companies, CNN has
issued a new policy and will tell viewers about the stars' financial
ties to corporations.
CNN will ask celebrities who want to talk about a medical issue
whether they are being paid by a company, the network said. If so,
the financial tie will be disclosed during the interview, CNN said.
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Other news programs — including the "Today" show on NBC, "Good
Morning America" on ABC and "The Early Show" on CBS — say that they
have also become more careful after they learned that some Hollywood
celebrities they had interviewed, including stars like Lauren Bacall
and Kathleen Turner, had been paid to help promote drugs or other
medical products on their programs.
Even a Hollywood agent who has benefited by working to link
celebrities with drug companies says some of the practices have gone
too far.
"The television networks and media people are not letting the
public know what the connections are, which I don't think is great
journalism," said Barry M. Greenberg, the president of
Celebrity Connection in Los Angeles. "I think we all need to be
clearer."
In the last year or so, dozens of movie, television and music
stars, as well as sports celebrities, who are paid by drug and
medical device companies, have appeared on talk shows and morning
news programs to discuss ailments they or people close to them have.
They often mention the drugs or other medical products by brand name
without disclosing their ties to the company.
On Aug. 11, the same day that The New York Times published a
report about the practice, CNN broadcast an interview with Ms.
Turner, one of the company-paid celebrities, who discussed her
battle with rheumatoid arthritis.
Ms. Turner is being paid by
Amgen and Wyeth, the two companies that sell the drug Enbrel, to
talk about her condition. She did not mention the drug by name in
the CNN interview.
The two drug companies say they are trying to raise awareness
about the disease and persuade people to see their doctors.
CNN issued its new policy the day after its interview with Ms.
Turner.
"In light of recent attention involving paid celebrity
endorsements, CNN became aware that some celebrities we interviewed
about their health problems might be paid," said Sarah Cohn, a CNN
spokeswoman. "We decided it was important for our viewers to be
aware of that as part of any future interviews or features about a
celebrity."
Executives at CBS say they also may have overlooked some
celebrities' ties to medical companies.
"This is a brand new thing," said Marcy McGinnis, the senior vice
president in charge of news coverage at CBS News.
Ms. McGinnis said producers at CBS had not looked into the
financial ties of the rock singer Ann Wilson of the band Heart, to
Inamed, a company that makes a medical device for the obese. A
July 18 segment on "The Early Show" featured the musician and her
doctor, Brian B. Quebbemann.
"The Early Show" ran part of a taped interview with Ms. Wilson
where she said Inamed's Lap-band, a silicon band that is fastened
around the stomach during surgery, was "a beautifully simple idea."
Dr. Quebbemann performed the Lap-band surgery on Ms. Wilson in
January.
Inamed, through Spotlight Health, a firm that specializes in
creating celebrity marketing campaigns for medical companies, paid
Ms. Wilson to promote the Lap-band.
Dr. Quebbemann promotes the Lap-band on his Web site and issued a
news release on the day he appeared on "The Early Show," saying he
hoped to perform the procedure on "many other patients."
At the time, Ms. McGinnis said, "it would not have occurred to us
to even ask" about the singer's ties to Inamed.
From now on, she said, CBS will ask celebrities before the
interview about their corporate connections and disclose them in the
interview.
"It is another thing to add to the policy guide," Ms. McGinnis
said.
Douglas Trigg, a spokesman for Inamed, said the company used Ms.
Wilson in the campaign because "she wanted to talk about her
struggle." Ms. Wilson and Dr. Quebbemann could not be reached for
comment.
At ABC, Lisa Finkel, a spokeswoman for "Good Morning America,"
said that more than one producer was now asking the celebrities or
the people representing them about any corporate ties before each
interview.
"We've become much more vigilant," Ms. Finkel said.
One ABC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said
that after Ms. Turner promoted a Web site used by Amgen and Wyeth to
market Enbrel during a Feb. 19 interview with Diane Sawyer on "Good
Morning America," producers began giving the show's hosts more
information about medications before any interview. In that way, if
a celebrity they were interviewing began promoting a product, the
host could provide a more balanced point of view for viewers, the
official said.
In recent months, some drug companies and their advertising
agencies have developed new tactics, the executive said.
About a month after the interview with Ms. Turner, people
representing Peggy Fleming, the Olympic gold medal skater, asked ABC
whether she could appear on the show to talk about cholesterol and
heart disease.
"Our producers asked if this was a drug pitch," the official
said, and were told that it was not.
But near the beginning of the interview, Ms. Fleming said, "My
doctor has put me on Lipitor and my cholesterol has dropped
dramatically."
The show's co-host, Elizabeth Vargas, quickly responded, saying
there were "plenty of drugs that you can use besides Lipitor,"
including Zocor and Pravachol. But by then Lipitor, which is made by
Pfizer, had received an effective marketing plug.
Ms. Fleming told the audience she was working with a
pharmaceutical company but did not say specifically that it was
Pfizer.
Pfizer said it had made it clear to ABC that Ms. Fleming was
working to promote Lipitor. "It was clearly stated to a producer,"
said Vanessa McGowan, a Pfizer spokeswoman.
Susan Lipton, Ms. Fleming's agent, said the skater wanted to tell
people how to lower cholesterol because heart disease had killed her
father and sister.
"It is something that is near and dear to her," Ms. Lipton said.
"Peggy would never endorse a product that she does not take."
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