February 2, 2015

Another egregious conflict of interest in Fox Health News

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Dr. Jennifer Landa, Fox News, journalism ethics, vitamins

On the FoxNews.com/health web page today is a piece (I won’t call it a story; it’s more like an ad) by Dr. Jennifer Landa, “Ending the multivitamin debate: Why taking one may actually save your life.”

Oh, my, there’s a lot we could say about this piece. And we will, since I’m going to blog here about only one aspect of the piece. But, separately, 3 independent reviewers from our review team will analyze the claims therein.

(Addendum on Feb. 3: that review is now published, after the analysis by veteran science writer Joann Rodgers, Kathleen Fairfield, MD, DrPH, and managing editor Kevin Lomangino.)

From the headline, you can see what the piece is about. But read this paragraph in the middle of the piece:

“In some of the higher-quality supplements, you’ll see things like Vitamin B-6 at 2,500 percent of your daily value. That may sound wacky, but keep in mind that 100 percent is just the level for basic survival— and that 2,500 percent is going to give you more of what you actually need to feel good. Look for high-quality brands with these higher doses. Because I know there can be a lot of guesswork when it comes to finding a good multivitamin, I created my own formula specifically designed to provide key nutrients that boost your energy, which is available on my website.”

That’s Dr. Landa’s own “webstore” which sells products online such as “Calm Energy” for $42 or “Endless Energy Adrenal Boost” for $24.

The bottom of the piece has this disclosure:

Dr. Jennifer Landa is Chief Medical Officer of BodyLogicMD, the nation’s largest franchise of physicians specializing in bioidentical hormone therapy. Dr. Jen spent 10 years as a traditional OB-GYN, and then became board-certified in regenerative medicine, with an emphasis on bio-identical hormones, preventative medicine and nutrition. She is the author of “The Sex Drive Solution for Women.” Learn more about her programs at www.jenlandamd.com.

Fox News continues to defy credibility and journalism ethics by allowing conflicted physicians to hawk their ideas and their wares under the guise of NEWS. Dr. Landa’s piece appears on a FoxNews.com/health page. Not as an ad, but as news.

We have written in the past about Fox News allowing robotic surgery proponent Dr. David Samadi to render opinions and promote his own ideas – unchallenged – in a news format. Past posts:

By any relevant standard of journalism ethics – the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, the Radio-Television Digital News Association, the Association of Health Care Journalists Statement of Principles – these Fox practices are out of bounds.

We call on them to stop, and we will continue to do so as long as we these practices continue.

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