Minnesota Public Radio invited me as guest on their "Midmorning" program today to talk about the state of health care journalism.

You can hear the clip at: http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/news/midmorning/2007/07/27_midmorn2
(Real Player required to download and listen)

The political newsletter CounterPunch, the Chicago Tribune and some of its readers weigh in on the question:

"Do you trust CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta?"

I always talk a great deal with my students about the blurred line between news and advertising in many settings these days. Now some of my past students are seeing it for themselves.

For whatever reason, a disproportionate share of one year's graduating class is working in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where today the Argus Leader newspaper reports:

"A local television affiliate is ramping up its health care coverage, thanks to a partnership with Avera Health.

KSFY-TV this month began a partnership with the Sioux Falls-based health care system, broadcasting live and taped segments with doctors and other Avera professionals and patients.

"We're telling patient stories and conveying the good work that our physicians are doing," said Kenyon Gleason, spokesman for Avera McKennan, the health system's flagship hospital in Sioux Falls.

KELO-TV and Sanford Health - Avera's cross-town rival - have had a similar relationship for several years."

I was interviewed for the story about the propriety of such arrangements, which give the appearance of independent news decision-making even though it's a stacked deck - delivering only the news of the sponsoring health care institution. The new Sioux Falls sponsored segment will be called the "Avera Medical Minute." Guess how many Avera competitors will show up in those segments?

Meantime, another past student of mine, hearing about the Sioux Falls stink, wrote from a a different Midwest TV market:

"We have health segments. They're strictly advertisements, aired during the breaks in our newscasts with our logo on them. However, they're created to look like news stories, with a "reporter" asking doctors questions. We get calls all the time, asking about this story we aired... and we have to say, sorry that's a commercial... don't know anything about it..."

It's easy to understand viewers' confusion. But it's sad to see my former students' early disillusionment with an industry that is starting to tear down the walls between the news side and the advertising side.

At StreetAnatomy.com, see what happens when "smart systems" search for relevant terms in news stories so that related ads can be placed on that web page.

It's not always a good idea.

NBC apparently doesn't understand the concept of disease-mongering. Or else they don't care. Because they keep practicing the same flawed reporting on restless leg syndrome.

See my entry on The World Health Care Blog.

And for anyone with legitimate restless leg syndrome, please read the entire column before writing to me. I'm not questioning your symptoms. I'm questioning news coverage. And if you represent a drug company that makes a drug for restless leg syndrome, don't bother to write. I am aware of your astroturfing campaigns.

Michael Moore came out swinging in “The Situation Room� with Wolf Blitzer on CNN last evening. First, CNN replayed a several-days old report by Sanjay Gupta that concluded that Moore “fudged the facts� in his “Sicko� documentary on the U.S. health care system.

Then Blitzer led off with an insipid, insulting introduction of Moore: “Give us a couple of headlines, what you'd like to say.�

MOORE (excerpts of a long answer): “I don't talk in sound bites. That report was so biased. I can't imagine what pharmaceutical company ad's coming up right after our break here. … I mean, you guys have such a poor track record. … And I'm just curious when are you going to just stand there and apologize to the American people for not bringing the truth to them that isn't sponsored by some major corporation?�

BLITZER: “Just in fairness, we had a lot of commercials for "Sicko" that we've been running on CNN as well. So we have commercials. This is a business, obviously. But let's talk a little bit about ...�

MOORE: “You have a nightly medical report. You have something called "The Daily Dose." I watch CNN. You have it every day. "The Daily Dose" sponsored by -- fill in the blank. And you are funded by these people day in and day out. Don't even compare that to my movie being out for a couple of weeks and a couple of rinky-dink ads for 15 seconds. Come on. Come on, Wolf!�

Did Blitzer actually claim that CNN was being fair to Moore by taking his money to run his commercials? Does this acclaimed anchorman actually believe that commercial content should be taken into account when one judges editorial balance? Or was Blitzer suddenly commenting on CNN’s ad sales policies? Either way, I’ll join Moore’s plea: “Come on. Wolf!�

CNN doesn’t have a journalist that can stand up to Moore on a discussion about health care policy issues because it doesn’t have a journalist that has researched health policy issues in this country as much as Moore and his documentary team has. And that was clear in yesterday’s silly situation as Wolf got Blitzed in “The Situation Room.�

The complete CNN transcript is available online and the complete video clip is available on Michael Moore's website.