Gutter-People: "Sanjay Gupta, NYT, ... & Philip Morris" (Wendell Potter; We knew that)
Kathleen
http://www.actionlyme.org/110214_GUTTERPEOPLE_GUPTA_NYT.htm
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Subject: Gutter-People: "Sanjay Gupta, NYT, ... & Philip
Morris" (Wendell Potter; We knew that)
Date: Feb 14, 2011 4:25 AM
FULL TEXT BELOW
==================================
Of course, *we* knew they were medical hoes
(Wall Street Journal and especially the
NYTimes).
Philip Morris associated with Lyme criminals:
http://www.actionlyme.org/ALDF_BOARD.htm
attending the ALDF's "GALA":
http://www.actionlyme.org/OTHER_ALDF_SPONSORS.htm
"May 1
"ALDF Gala Benefit
"The American Lyme Disease Foundation, Inc. (ALDF) will be hosting its
annual benefit on Tuesday, May 1st at The Pierre Hotel Grand Ballroom
in New York City (5th Avenue and 61St Street). Being honored this year
are Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney; Muriel Siebert, President and
Chairwoman, Muriel Siebert & Company, Inc., and a memorial tribute to
S. Dillon Ripley, former Secretary Emeritus, the Smithsonian
Institution, by his daughter Rosemary Ripley, Vice President of
Corporate Business Development at ***Philip Morris Companies.*** The
co-chairs for the evening's festivities are Les Carter, President,
Carter Stone & Co.; Harry Fisher, Vice President/Sr. Portfolio
Manager, U.S. Trust Company of CT; and Richard Gray, Chairman & CEO,
Chariot Investors, Inc.
All net proceeds from the Benefit Gala will support the vital services
and programs of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, Inc. and are tax
deductible within the extent of the law. For further information about
the ALDF Benefit or to obtain tickets, please call David L. Weld,
Executive Director, at (914) 277-6970 ext. 22.
===================================
Philip Morris: "It's CONTROVERSIAL whether or
not smoking causes lung cancer."
You can see the similarities in "Lyme Disease."
The bad guys once made all kinds of claims about
how serious Lyme Disease was
http://www.actionlyme.org/CHP_9_IDSA_REVIEWS.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/BIOMARKERS2.htm
http://www.actionlyme.org/BRAIN_PERMANENT.htm
Then suddenly, when the ALDF.com was founded
http://www.actionlyme.org/CONNOLLY_FISH_WEINSTEIN.htm
it all went "CONTROVERSIAL."
And Philip Morris was present :)))
The Weld Brothers are associated with the
NWO Nature Conservancy - the same gang who
sent Representative Nancy Johnson (R-New
Britain) on a $$$17,000 vacation to the
Easter Islands in return for Johnson letting
BigPharma write Bushie's new Medicare bill
which cost the average old person an extra
600 dollars per year for their meds :)))
Nancy Johnson wasn't prosecuted, naturally,
because this is America. And this is especially
Corrupticut, America.
====================
CT US Attorney Kevin O'Connor now works
http://www.actionlyme.org/USDOJ_COMPLAINT_RICO.htm
for Rudi Guiliani's White-Collar-Criminal
protecting law firm, which was what he
did all along as US Attorney for
Corrupticut. O'Connor also was Alberto Gonzales'
number one pick for his defense team
during US Attorneygate.
US Attorney Kevin O'Connor got his job because
his wife, Kathleen O'Connor, worked in
John Rowland's office during all the DCF's
Party-and-Screw for the pediatric jails
enterprise known as "TREA":
http://www.actionlyme.org/RAGAGLIA_GRANDJURY_DETAILS.htm
And see:
http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/curryinterview.htm
"Not even John Ashcroft was willing to give him the go ahead. Rowland
then proposed a lawyer, who was the husband of one of the Governor's
legal staff. His name is Kevin O'Connor. He got the job. And he is now
the U.S. Attorney. He has recused himself from the Rowland cases,
because of that connection."
And see:
http://www.actionlyme.org/RAGAGLIA_GIGGLE_UPDATE_06_NOV_05.htm
"On another occasion, a sober Rowland adviser was deputized to warn
another Republican she ought to start wearing underwear beneath her
short skirts when she was around the governor. Mrs. Rowland was said
to be especially insistent that the message be delivered."
"Connecticut's political world is tiny and given to ennui. Witness the
fact that the U.S. Attorney, Kevin O'Connor, was barred from
participating in the prosecution of the Rowland scandals because of
his and his wife's close ties to the former governor. Kathleen
O'Connor worked in the office of Rowland's legal counsel. In most
places, that would raise an alarm. Connecticut only shrugs."
So, that's Kevin O'Connor:
http://www.actionlyme.org/USDOJ_COMPLAINT_RICO.htm
And that's why Blumenthal's office had to do
the USDOJ's job prosecuting the Lyme criminals
for scientific fraud and racketeering:
http://www.actionlyme.org/080430_RICO_CABAL_CAVES.htm
Even if you don't give a crap about what
happens to whistleblowers like Karen Silkwood
or David Graham, or Bradley Manning or Wikileaks,
what Kevin OConnor is all about is a fascinating
story. The O'Connors lived right next door to John
Rowland on Bantam Lake (CT), while Rowland got all
the cabin improvements so that Tomasso could get
the "National String of Pediatric and Adult
Prisons across the country in rock quarries."
http://www.actionlyme.org/BRAINLESS_BUREAUCRATS.htm
DCF fed this gang the pediatric bodies
who would occupy the early and late jails.
This was a guaranteed outcome, especially
with DCF drugging these kids out of their
minds:
http://www.actionlyme.org/DCF_GRADUATARDS_SPEAK.htm
"The drugs made me dumber."
"The foster carers did everything they could
to get us drugged up, because the State pays
more to a foster carer of 'special needs' children.
So, they used to lie about us to get us on
more and more drugs."
"Now I can't even read any more..."
Of course the vast majority of major
crime is committed in Corrupticut, after
it is committed in the UK - the seat
of the Freemasons and the Israeli
Bank of England.
We clearly can see what the agenda is.
We've had years to watch it all play out.
Sick and demented people can go on the
dot-guv dole, rather than BigInsurance pays
for it. And this acquired dementia, I guess,
is little different from what happened to
the TV generation.
'The tards who are Dot Guv employees and cops.
They don't think Large.
They don't think in Big Picture outcomes.
They don't think about their own children.
So, here is Wendell Potter, once again revealing
not only what the USDOJ is really all about, but
the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal....
'Folks who would have you believe they're
sophisticated, when they're the same
gutter-people as duh DCF.
KMDickson
http://www.actionlyme.org
http://www.relapsingfever.org
======================
“It was so easy for me to get my way”
A former health insurance insider turned whistleblower says that he
was not only surprised at how “easy” it was to manipulate members of
the news media over the years, but also reveals that he routinely
“wined and dined” reporters from major news outlets – including the
New York Times and the Wall Street Journal – in return for favorable
coverage.
In his new book Deadly Spin, Wendell Potter describes how his chief
function as a senior public relations officer at two of the largest
for-profit health insurance companies in the United States – Humana
and Cigna – was to “perpetuate myths that had no other purpose but to
sustain those companies’ extraordinary high profitability.”
But in an extended interview with Raw Story last week, Potter went
further, revealing that he lunched with reporters at major media
outlets for years – including journalists at the New York Times and
the Wall Street Journal – as well as those from local and regional
media, in most cases picking up the tab, which he says directly
resulted in positive coverage of the companies he represented.
In an email to Raw Story Sunday night, New York Times spokeswoman
Danielle Rhoades Ha responded, "The claims are unsubstantiated and
absurd since no names of reporters, examples of stories or other
pertinent facts are provided to support these claims."
Wall Street Journal spokeswoman Ashley Huston declined comment.
In a follow-up call Sunday night, Potter reiterated to Raw Story that
he would not name reporters from the Times or the Journal who embraced
such relationships with him because he did not want to single them out
for embarrassment. He said that he engaged in this practice with many
different major media outlets for years, but cited the Times and
Journal to underscore that even the most venerable news sources took
part.
Potter also said that he did not cite specific articles because it
would have the same effect of outing those reporters.
He noted as well that these meetings with reporters were "a process
that developed over time" and didn't just result in influencing a
handful of articles, but "many articles over the years," even
including ones which were generously spiked after such interactions.
“Just like lobbyists do for lawmakers”
“What you do, at least if you’re successful -- and I was at Cigna for
almost 15 years -- you work to develop good relationships with
reporters who are important to your company and to your industry,” he
explained. “You give them special attention.”
“We would go to lunch whenever we could,” continued Potter, who, at
the age of twenty-four, was covering the White House, Congress and the
Supreme Court for Scripps Howard news service before going into public
relations in the late 1970s.
He said that sitting across the table from someone helped to develop a
better rapport than if they were always just “a voice at the end of a
telephone line.”
“It was important for me I’ve always found to have a personal
relationship with someone that’s based on going to lunch,” Potter
said. “It was just part of what I did to try to make sure that my
company’s point of view was included in their stories.”
He added, though, “I would essentially wine and dine them, just like
lobbyists do for lawmakers.”
When Raw Story asked Potter if he meant that he literally picked up
the tab for reporters, which, in turn, led to favorable coverage, he
averred that was the case.
As an example of how he was also involved in this practice with some
of the nation’s most well-respected news outlets, he noted that even
reporters from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal had
taken part in such lunches.
He said that while some reporters over the years did decline to have
their meals paid for, most of them agreed. And even those who would
not let Potter pick up the tab still had no qualms about sharing lunch
with him and allowing him to ingratiate himself, he said.
As for the reporters who agreed to have him pay for their meals,
Potter said he was “absolutely” aware of the ethical issues involved
for the journalists and their news outlets in agreeing to such a
transaction.
Potter, who is currently the senior fellow on health care at the
Center for Media and Democracy, said he has less of a problem with
reporters who met him for lunch but made sure they paid for
themselves.
“I see really nothing wrong with that,” he said.
But he then noted that whether he paid for their meals or not, many of
the reporters whom he engaged with in such settings over the years
didn’t seem to fully grasp the degree to which he was using them.
“Reporters should be mindful of what’s really going on,” Potter said.
“They should be more aware of the game that’s being played. And I
don’t think a lot of them really are.”
He added that they often confused responsiveness and attention with
cooperation, but, in reality, he was only going “through the motions
of being cooperative” and “was always certainly mindful of not
disclosing anything the company didn’t want to be disclosed.”
Spent years planting stories in the media
Potter has pointed out his involvement in planting stories in the
media as part of the health insurance industry’s campaign to de-
legitimize Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore’s documentary
“Sicko.”
He’s also cited CNN’s chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta and USA
Today for treating the front group Health Care America as a viable
source critical of “Sicko” rather than what it was – a sole creation
of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the insurers' biggest
trade group, and APCO Worldwide, a Washington-based PR firm that
specializes in propping up front groups for major corporations and
industries, such as for Phillip Morris and the tobacco industry during
the 1990s.
But during the interview with Raw Story, Potter also acknowledged
having planted stories in the media for years.
“Well, it’s just part of what you do,” he said. “Over time you’re
always involved working with your colleagues in other companies to try
to get the media to cover the industry more favorably.”
Potter, the self-described “gatekeeper” at Cigna to the CEO and other
top executives for 15 years, also noted his surprise at the ease with
which he was able to manipulate most reporters.
“You’d think that a PR guy for a big insurance company would get
beaten up every now and then,” he said. “But it was so easy for me to
get my way.”
Potter explained, for example, that if he really wanted to avoid a
conversation with a reporter, he would simply issue a statement and
usually send it by email.
“I wouldn’t even have to have a conversation,” he said. “I would
essentially be saying, ‘Take it or leave it, this is what we’re saying
about this.’ And they would just acquiesce.”
He said that it was “almost unheard of” for a reporter to ever push
back, noting that “only a few reporters in my whole career really did
all that significantly in terms of trying to get beyond the
statement.”
Still regularly spots industry’s influence on news media
Potter said that industry spin may be nuanced but he often notices it
in articles on health insurance, even in the country’s paper of
record.
Citing the Times again, he said, “I’m not going to name names [of
reporters], but even the New York Times has seen their reporting out
of Washington being less than what you would think” regarding health
insurance coverage.
“Probably most readers wouldn’t, but I can see how the stories that
come together have been influenced by the industry in ways that I can
spot,” Potter continued. “They’ve got the industry spin in it. And
it’s not tough or hard-hitting, it doesn’t get into areas that really
are important.”
One reason for this, he pointed out, might have to do with his
surprise by the number of reporters covering the health insurance
industry who not only lack expertise on the details of insurance
policies and legislation but also the companies’ stealthy PR tactics.
Potter said that “most of the reporters” he encountered who covered
health insurance and the industry “really didn’t have much of an
understanding how it really works.”
He also noted that still seems to be the case today.
“So it was really easy for us to work with the media in ways that were
very advantageous to us and to the insurance industry,” he said.
Brad Jacobson is a contributing investigative reporter for Raw Story.
You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/bradpjacobson.
KMDickson