James Murdoch is still supported by GlaxoSmithKline
By John Stone
James Murdoch, the beleagured News Corporation executive, has received a ringing endorsement from MMR manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline according to Reuters news agency on Friday. GSK who appointed him to their board in February 2009 insist Murdoch has made “a strong contribution” to the group and received share payments worth $158,000 in 2010. Murdoch was appointed to the board of the pharmaceutical manufacturer with a brief to “review…external issues that might have the potential for serious impact upon the group's business and reputation."
Within a fortnight of his appointment News International had published at least 5 articles attacking MMR researcher Andrew Wakefield’s integrity (one , two , three , four and five ).
The accusations, while flawed, were devastating to Wakefield’s reputation. According to the Sunday Times, and its journalist, Brian Deer Wakefield was singly guilty of fabricating the data in the Lancet paper of 1998 although none of his 12 co-authors have ever repudiated it and one of them, histopathologist, Susan Davies subsequently wrote to British Medical Journal rebutting Deer’s interpretation of her evidence before the General Medical Council. Deer’s allegations were also based on his own inexpert interpretation of GP records which were never available to the authors of the paper. The allegations which were re-cycled by British Medical Journal were rebutted by Wakefield in his book Callous Disregard, and frequently in articles published on Age of Autism (AofA The Big Lie , AofA Time To Revisit Deer's Claims , AofA Part 2 Time To Revisit Deer's Claims ). In contrast to normal academic journal policy BMJ have adopted a legalistic defence of its allegations and (more here). Furthermore, they were forced to admit under pressure that they had undisclosed conflicts with MMR manufacturers Merck and GSK.
The Sunday Times campaign against Wakefield began in 2003 when section editor Paul Nuki approached Deer saying that he needed "something big" on "MMR" . Nuki was the son of Prof George Nuki who sat on the Committee on Safety on Medicines when MMR/Pluserix were first introduced in the late 1980s. Shortly afterwards Deer interviewed parent litigants under a false name. Unknown to Sunday Times readers Deer also pursued his own official complaints against Wakefield and colleagues and came to an arrangement with General Medical Council lawyers that he would not be named in the case, leaving him free to continue reporting as if an independent journalist . Deer’s obtaining and use of confidential data remains to be investigated. A statement on copyright on his website probably dating back some years states (my underlining.):
'For reference, with regard to Brian Deer's MMR investigation, almost all of the key facts and documents are not public domain, and, such is the culture of plagiarism, he will act against authors who represent his writing, interviews, documents, or other research, as the fruit of their own inquiries, whether referenced or not.'
In an article his website he also mentioned reading confidential reports in the MMR litigation and commented on them. When these issues were raised in British Medical Journal last year the journal took the step of removing several letters from its on-line correspondence, effectively banning all further reference to the matter from its columns.
The role of both BMJ and the News International in this affair require urgent official investigation.
John Stone is UK Editor for Age of Autism.
Gee does Rupert Murdoch attack anyone who questions anything that will affect his bottom line? Ask Brian Deer or anyone who has published anything that will go against GlaxoSmithKline. I don't know, I'm thinkin' yeah...just guessing. lol
Posted by: Uri Gofert | November 09, 2011 at 05:05 PM
"Now the British Medical Journal has taken the extraordinary step of publishing a lengthy report by Brian Deer, the British investigative journalist who first brought the paper’s flaws to light — and has put its own reputation on the line by endorsing his findings."
New York Times Editorial
Posted by: Autism Watcher | July 21, 2011 at 06:43 AM
I'm looking forward to the editor of the BMJ being given a slow roasting by a parliamentary select committee over what she knew about the corrupt practices of one of her pet freelancers.
Posted by: Cybertiger | July 20, 2011 at 02:52 AM
To M O'Callaghan, Sorry to be a bit off topic here, but your expertese could come in handy. Lately I have been wondering about this: Why, if more than 10 years ago chemists demonstrated that the brains of Alzheimers patients were high in mercury and aluminum, are not the public health folks who care so deeply- deeply- deeply - about our health- warning people to limit their exposure to mercury and aluminum?
This question comes from someone who wonders why her tax dollars go to pay for millions of dollars of pamphlets instructing moms to wash their kids hands.
Do you think that situations such as this might account for the fact that so many people today go to the dreaded internet to get their health information?
Posted by: Cherry Sperlin Misra | July 19, 2011 at 02:14 PM
@ M O'Callagan .. you ask:
"How much more money needs to wasted on research to test a hypothesis that has been shown to be plain wrong by numerous other studies and how many people with autism have to suffer at the hands of quacks and charlatans trying to change their intrinsic being?"
Unfortunately, the autism community is well aware of the damages done by "quacks and charlatans" .. just one example of many .. "refrigerator moms".
However you do raise a good question when you ask:
"How much more money needs to be wasted on research to test a hypothesis that has been shown to be plain wrong by numerous other studies?"
Would you agree the millions upon millions of scarce, critical, research funds seeking the ever-illusive "autism gene" .. over decades .. without any success worth such a heavy investment .. indicates a "failed hypothesis" .. that should end?
and
As a neuroscientist .. would you be willing to accept and fund research for the more recent hypothesis .. that posits the "environment" .. not "genetics" .. is more likely the cause of autism?
Of course .. as a neuroscientist .. I understand the idea that autism is not "intrinsic" .. will be a difficult concept to accept.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | July 19, 2011 at 06:44 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012y1tv
A Murdoch News of the World whistleblower employee interviewed on this BBC Panorama programme, has now been found dead.
No suspicious circumstances.
Posted by: Jenny Allan | July 19, 2011 at 02:50 AM
Thanks for the info Gordon......
'New and alarming charges came on Tuesday from the former prime minister Gordon Brown, who said that one of the most prestigious newspapers in the group, The Sunday Times, employed “known criminals” to gather personal information on his bank account, legal files and tax affairs.'
Posted by: Patricia Atkins | July 18, 2011 at 09:36 PM
Oh geesh, when someone says they respects Brian Deer's work - wathch out, they must be a crook. Respect and Brian Deer go together like Hitler and compassion. No way.
Posted by: Sylvia | July 18, 2011 at 08:14 PM
The whole "Wakefield's a dangerous fraud" mantra has devolved into a schtick more tedious than a Bangalore help-desk script. I encourage the Ocallahans of the world to keep using it relentlessly. Seriously, keep banging that gong, it makes you look smart and cool. You clearly know the best way to address the autism epidemic is to call Wakefield names. We're impressed with your acumen and deep personal knowledge of our children's medical issues and vitamin deficiencies. I think I will agree with you forever and ever from now on.
Posted by: Garbo | July 18, 2011 at 08:00 PM
M O'Callaghan -
Would you care to name ONE study that investigates a link between vaccines and autism? Not a study looking at MMR, nor a study looking at mercury exposure, but a study looking at vaccines? If you are unable to provide any such study, your claim that the vaccine autism connection is a 'myth' is downright deceitful, and you have no place in the world of medicine.
Posted by: GH | July 18, 2011 at 06:30 PM
It's not about the odious Andrew Wakefield. It's about standards (which Brian Deer did NOT breech)and humanity in journalism. Get over yourselves.
---------------
I smell linkage bigger than a bread box.
Posted by: Media Scholar | July 18, 2011 at 05:23 PM
M O'Callaghan
Sorry, all you are doing is emoting. As to Dr Macdonald, he isn't a doctor either and he wasn't there when the clinical decisions were made (mostly not involving Andrew Wakefield anyway).
Posted by: John Stone | July 18, 2011 at 03:23 PM
Mr Moffit, there is wishful thinking on my part. That sites like this would stop promoting dangerous myths about vaccines and equally dangerous ideas of curing autism. Chelation therapy, restriction diets and megadose vitamins, especially Bvits which can cause peripheral neuropathies in people many of whom are already over sensitive to tactile stimuli is cruel and to use a phrase bandied around so commonly on sites like this shows, "callous disregard" not only for evidence, the scientific method but autistic people themselves. The "bunker mentality" is in ample evidence in groups such as this.
As for the Murdochs they deserve everything they get but they too are human beings and surely you must realise that not every action or association of a person who has been shown to be corrupt IS corrupt. I think people who hold to the myth that vaccines cause autism are wrong in this instance but I don't believe that makes you wrong about everything even in relation to issues surrounding autism and raising awareness of the conditions and the signs to spot is highly commendable.
As for Wakefield, I'm sure many people have benefitted from his expertise in gastro-enterology but he has done public health and the understanding of autism no good whatsoever. I don't think the 1998 paper is flawed because some journalist says it is no matter how much I repect that persons work. I have read the study myself and found it lacking. Having discussed it with, and read and heard the opinions of other people far more qualified than I (my area of neuroscience expertise is Parkinson's disease and to some degree Alzheimer's disease), for example gastro-immunologist Thomas MacDonald I am satisfied that the paper was not only flawed but fraudulent. There is no new gastric disease. Children are dying from measles, not just in the developing world but here in europe.Measles rates in the UK and France from Jan-Jun 2011 are 100 times that for the whole of 2010. At least 6 French people have died of the infection this year. How many more children need to die? How much more money needs to wasted on research to test a hypothesis that has been shown to be plain wrong by numerous other studies and how many people with autism have to suffer at the hands of quacks and charlatans trying to change their intrinsic being?
Posted by: M O'Callaghan | July 18, 2011 at 02:51 PM
Another honest cop gone!!others tell the truth...
John Yates, Met Police Assistant Commissioner, resigns
John Yates resigned after being told he would be suspended as his conduct was being referred to the
Independent Police Complaints Commission, the Metropolitan Police Authority confirmed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8617707/News-of-the-World-phone-hacking-live.html
Posted by: Angus Files | July 18, 2011 at 10:03 AM
@ M O'Callaghan
Your comment urging people to "get over yourselves" appears more "wishful thinking" than "credible advice".
Admittedly, hacking the phone of a murdered girl was despicable .. but .. you are woefully misguided if you think "hacking into people's phones" is the worst that has been done.
My friend .. the damage that may have been done to an entire generation of UK children .. through the deceitful, dishonest, collaboration of James Murdoch, GlaxoSmithKline .. the London Times and Brian Deer .. to discredit, disgrace and disbar the honorable Dr. Wakefield .. makes "hacking into phones" a petty crime by comparision.
The extensive .. wilfull .. deceitful .. collaboration of these scoundrals was meant to serve one purpose and one purpose only .. to warn others to keep their mouths shut should they, too .. have valid reasons to question the safety of U.K's vaccine policies .. or .. risk receiving similar treatment.
There is no greater crime than corrupting the public health .. and .. with the arrest of Rebeckah Brooks .. it appears those investigating this unfolding event have made a courageous decision THERE WILL BE NONE TO BIG TO JAIL.
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | July 18, 2011 at 07:03 AM
I cn`t think who this refer`s to but I thought I would post it anyway..ha ha ha ha !!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_mentality
A bunker mentality is a slang phrase for a phenomenon that occurs when a group or individual stops taking new, pertinent information into account, and begins viewing outsiders as enemies, due to an isolation resulting from being under attack. Political campaigns and figures are often accused of having this mentality, particularly when a leader, administration or party has become unpopular or is in some sort of trouble.[1]
Posted by: Angus Files | July 18, 2011 at 05:49 AM
After the furore about Brian Deer's BMJ articles erupted on US television the Sunday Times issued the following statement:-
"It is quite clear that you do not understand English. Brian Deer is not a member of the Sunday Times staff. He is a freelance journalist who runs his own website and blog and is not under the control or direction of the Sunday Times. Mr. Deer should not represent himself as a Sunday Times journalist. He is not a member of staff, does NOT have a regular salary from us, is not on our pension scheme and pays his own tax as a freelance. If he says that he writes for the Sunday Times that would be correct. He is a contributor to The Sunday Times on an occasional basis but again we have no control over him ..."
- Alaistair Brett, Legal Manager, Sunday Times
I am fairly sure that Murdoch's lawyers are already making moves to once again distance themselves from Brian Deer. James Murdoch's position on the GSK board is now looking precarious. The Murdoch name is now so toxic, that James is a liability. In any case, the political and media power of the Murdochs is at an end and they will be all be dumped by those unscrupulous commercial interests which found them so useful in the past.
Our own UK Prime Minister is presently fighting for his political life due to him allowing the Murdochs to 'call the shots' in our country's government. David Cameron has had no choice about being forced to publicly condemn his former 'friends'.
Posted by: Jenny Allan | July 18, 2011 at 03:35 AM
Can we get all this on a new bumper sticker? I'd love to have it. Just great, John.
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | July 18, 2011 at 01:06 AM
Australia
As these chain-of-events unfold, here in Australia our own Prime Minister, (Julia Gillard) has distanced herself from making any comments with regards to the Murdoch's. Even though it is major news and dominating the headlines.
I wonder when the "fleas" will be discovered at the rear end of the dog (here downunder). "Time will tell!"
Elizabeth-AussieMum
Posted by: AussieMum | July 17, 2011 at 11:52 PM
I can't help thinking of the phrase "please God, turn their hearts, and if you can't turn their hearts turn their ankles so we will know them by their limping."
Posted by: Will Murdochs Carry Canes to Hearing? | July 17, 2011 at 10:47 PM
M O'Callaghan ;
Would we care or be reading this with such great glee and interest (I do me we as in those whose families have been damaged by vaccines) if not some breech of Humanity in journalism had not been done to our community?????
Breeched humanity was when Brian Deer went snooping into the 12 children involved in Dr. Wakefield's study. Brian Deer actually weasled himself into these very fragile people's home under the false pretense that he actually cared and was actually trying to get their story out and actually get to the truth.
Breeched humanity is when he tricked those parents into interviews and then twisted their words.
Breeched humanity is when he called a new, unknown bowel disease that Dr. Wakefield had discovered as simple constipation.
Breeched humainity when he got ahold of the medical records without permission, not that it was so very bad (it is just illegal, at least in the United States),---- if he had really been seeking truth, I am sure the parents would not have minded so very much , but instead he just got ahold of those medical records to twist the truth to fit what he was "hired" to find and that was certianly not the truth.
One obviouse "odious" fact was over an ear infection that he decided was really the child could not hear thus it had autism before the vaccine. It really had an ear infection. Such stuff is what villians do.
So as good as I like Fox News in the United States, and am pleased with one reporter's fair and balanced reporting on vaccines and autism - I am delighted that Murdock is getting in trouble for breeching a murder girl's phone and hope that much more will be discovered.
Posted by: Benedetta | July 17, 2011 at 10:35 PM
The police investigation has now spread to the investigative unit of The Sunday Times, according to a report in the New York Times.
The investigation will look into allegations that journalists hacked into email accounts and took part in other online privacy invasions, a person with knowledge of the scope of the inquiry told the newspaper.
One target of the investigation is alleged to be Jonathan Rees, a private detective employed by the News of the World.
Tom Watson, the Labour Minister who has led the campaign against phone hacking, claims police have evidence that Mr Rees was paid by News International and that he had claimed to have met with members of the Sunday Times investigation unit.
The claims were published in the New York Times, which is currently in a circulation battle with Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2015627/Rupert-Murdoch-power-Ed-Miliband-demands-break-UK-empire.html#ixzz1SPwkTR4c
Posted by: Patricia Atkins | July 17, 2011 at 10:02 PM
Keep it up, John. I'm on the edge of my chair.
Posted by: Dan E. Burns - SavingBenBook.com | July 17, 2011 at 08:44 PM
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july172011/murdoch-vaccines-wn.php
M, you'd best get busy contacting other media. The entire dog gets fleas, not just one ear.
Murdoch and Vaccines - Exposure of Murdoch's Crimes Open Up A Much Larger Story
By William Newton Special to Salem-News.com
"... the evidence of sleazy and scandalous behavior of the Murdoch papers has expanded geometrically." Michael Collins
Murdoch photo: usdailynewsblog.blogspot.com
(LONDON) - Rupert Murdoch's news empire faces intense media and legal scrutiny.
Current revelations focus on Murdoch's News of the World hacking into the Dowler family's voice messages during the kidnapping case their 12 year old daughter Milly, and Murdoch's London Times' allegedly having illegally obtained the financial, property and medical information of former UK Labour Party Leader Gordon Brown during the time he was chancellor. BBC - "Gordon Brown 'targeted' by Sunday Times" Murdoch's Last Pillar of Legitimacy Crumbles. A 2010 exposure of Murdoch's Times of London revealed that it had published forged documents purporting to show that Iran planned to do nuclear experiments for an atomic weapon, and as Michael Collins at Oped News points out, it was Murdoch's "drumbeat of misinformation" that helped mislead people into believing that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attack, supporting Bush's invasion of Iraq, though intelligence was "unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent." Senate Intelligence Committee Unveils Final Phase II Reports on Prewar Iraq Intelligence June 5, 2008
But what has not yet been covered is the media circus Murdoch's London Times created internationally as it fabricated lies against a respected British doctor, with consequences that could impact the lives of billions of children in the world.
Posted by: Over YOU | July 17, 2011 at 07:27 PM
M O'Callaghan
Gosh you were in quick. You are, of course, quite wrong. If it was just about one hideous indiscretion half the British establishment would not be collapsing at this moment round our ears. It seems to me a rather technical matter how you breach people's privacy. Apparently, obtaining people's private medical records and their legal documents is all in a day's work for you. Not to be compared to listening people's private telephone calls in any way!
Posted by: John Stone | July 17, 2011 at 07:14 PM
Love
Posted by: Katie Wright | July 17, 2011 at 07:12 PM
Can someone PLEASE explain why we are not shouting from the rooftops that Brian Deere's actions in the Wakefield case are a perfect example of the illegal hacking and other lawbreaking tactics that are apparently the M.O. of news agencies who are "owned" by pharmaceutical board members?
If these tactics are considered unethical, and, in fact, illegal, in cases of cell phone voice mails of murder victims, why are the same standards not applied to medical records of autistic children?
This question needs to be asked at every mainstream news article and forum devoted to the latest Murdoch scandal.
Posted by: Taximom5 | July 17, 2011 at 07:07 PM
John .. I just read that Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by the police and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has resigned.
Hopefully .. it will only be a matter of time before GlaxoSmithKline throws the dead weight of James Murdoch from their corrupt sleigh .. in a desperate attempt to satiate the hungary media wolves that smell fresh blood and are already snapping at their heels.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!
Posted by: Bob Moffitt | July 17, 2011 at 06:40 PM
I know this is REALLY hard to believe but this is about hacking into people's phones, most disgracefully that of a murdered girl and deleting messages from her voice mail giving her parents false hope that she was alive. It's not about whether vaccines cause autism. It's not about the odious Andrew Wakefield. It's about standards (which Brian Deer did NOT breech)and humanity in journalism. Get over yourselves.
Posted by: M O'Callaghan | July 17, 2011 at 06:40 PM