Pharm Execs 13th Annual Press Audit
If it feels like the media’s scrutiny of pharma has intensified recently, there's a reason-it has, as the results of our 13th Annual Press Audit indicate.
If it feels like the media’s scrutiny of pharma has intensified recently, there is a reason-it has. The results of the 13th Annual Press Audit of issues in the pharmaceutical industry indicate that media coverage of pharma jumped in 2016 and reached a ten-year high. Not since 2006 have the top five selling newspapers published more articles on pharma. Our audit identified 214 articles this year compared to 159 a year ago, an increase of 34.6%. The change reflects increased coverage across all but one of the major newspapers. High drug prices, a perennial hot button issue, tops the list of issues this year followed by the emergence of two new and related issues – misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and opioid addiction. Not surprisingly given this list of hot button issues, the news was not good. Both headlines and articles were more negative toward the industry than in the past.
The annual audit sponsored by the Arrupe Center for Business Ethics at Saint Joseph’s University tracks and analyzes the industry issues covered by the media. Prior audits have found that media coverage is largely negative toward the positions taken by pharma. This year’s audit identifies the “hot button” issues attracting media attention in 2016, compares the issues and how they are covered to previous years, and reports on the pharmaceutical companies and brands most often cited in the news. We also updated our analysis of how healthcare reform has been reported by the press.
Some of the top findings for 2016 include:
- Coverage of the industry has been trending up and reached a ten-year high this year.
- High drug prices in the U.S. rose to the top of the hot button issues list this year. Misuse and abuse of prescription drugs, opioid addiction, mergers and acquisitions, and tax inversion and tax evasion also received heavy coverage in 2016.
- The focus on healthcare reform was largely around the Affordable Care and Act and high drug prices as part of U.S. healthcare delivery. Coverage was at 36 articles, with the New York Times and Los Angeles Times accounting for two-thirds of the articles.
- Media coverage of the industry has always been more critical than positive or neutral but the tone of the coverage was even more negative than usual this year. In 2016, 50.5% of articles were negative toward the industry compared to the five-year average of 45.8%.
- Healthcare reform coverage was demonstrably neutral with 86.1% of the headlines and 69.4% of the articles neutral.
Processing the news
Once again we analyzed the top five newspapers in the United States as defined by circulation for a 12-month period and identified all front-page and editorial articles pertaining to “hot button” pharma issues. The purpose of the audit was to shed light on the following questions:
- What ethical and legal controversies face the pharma industry-and what kinds of coverage do they attract?
- Do the articles and headlines support or oppose the positions taken by the industry, as defined by the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers’ Association (PhRMA)?
- How often do reporters include the industry’s perspective in the stories that cover the issues of the day?
- What pharmaceutical companies and brand names are identified and discussed in the articles?
- What are the implications of these findÂings for the industry?