What's up with the lame Star Tribune coverage of the Medtronic scandal? Gary Schwitzer of Health News Review wants to know. The groundbreaking investigative reporting on the issue has come from John Fauber at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Senate Finance Committee has released a damning report. Yet the Strib serves up home cooking. Schwitzer writes:
"Fauber works for a Milwaukee paper. Medtronic is based in
Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has not been a leader on this
story. It has been, at best, a follower. Does the Minneapolis paper
think the issues are not legitimate or important? Does the Minneapolis
paper not allow its reporters the time needed to dig into the story? Is
the Minneapolis paper or its staff in some way too cozy in its dealing
with Medtronic?"
"Why do these issues get more play from a reporter from another state,
from a paper with a smaller circulation? Fauber’s paper has even
created a special section on their website, “Side Effects; Money Medicine and Patients”
that includes many past stories about Medtronic issues. Does the
med-tech industry in Minneapolis-St. Paul have some local journalists
frozen under the weight of influence?"
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