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Drugs

• August 11 -- Halbfinger Omits the Union Label
Reporting on campaign courting of the elderly, David Halbfinger spreads around more Kerry optimism and leaves out the AFL-CIO origins of a "three-year-old political organization that claims three million members" that's endorsing Kerry.

• January 6 -- The "Conservative" Medicare Drug Bill?
Robert Pear surveys the political landscape around the Medicare drug bill and sees no liberals: "The law was written mainly by conservatives and centrists."

• December 8 -- Gingrich as Anti-Medicare Grinch
Deborah Solomon grills the chief executive of AARP for consorting with conservative Newt Gingrich, who Solomon claims "wants to destroy Medicare."

• November 20 -- Still No Liberals in the Medicare Drug Debate
How does one quote Rep. Charles Rangel and Sen. Ted Kennedy in a Medicare story without using the word "liberal?" Ask Robert Pear and Robin Toner.

• October 29 -- Times Bias Toward Bad Medicine?
Does the Times have a bad news bias when it comes to prescription drug coverage? Gardiner Harris' story in August concerning possible safety problems with anti-depressant drugs made the Times front page. But his latest story, which somewhat contradicts that premise, is buried on the last page of section F.

• October 21 -- Bush Jr. -- No Senior Appeal?
Robin Toner squeezes data out of an old poll to show "Bush's Popularity With Older Voters Is Seen As Slipping"--and lets us know who the bad guys are in the Medicare debate.

• September 18 -- Robert Pear Overdoses On “Conservatives”
Robert Pear’s story on drug subsidies for seniors overdoses on the “conservative” label, employing the term seven times in a 750-word story. Meanwhile, ultraliberal Sen. Ted Kennedy is again merely a “Democrat of Massachusetts.”

• July 21 -- Still No Liberal Labeling In Drug Coverage
A front-page story by Robert Pear on the tough road ahead for a Medicare drug bill calls the liberal group Families USA, which favors Canadian-style socialized medicine, a “consumer group.” Meanwhile, on the other side, “Conservatives agree that the Senate subsidies are generous -- too generous, they say.”

• July 17 -- Tax Cuts Cause Deficits, But Medicare Spending Doesn’t?
David Rosenbaum’s front-page story is headlined: “White House Sees A $455 Billion Gap In The ’03 Budget -- Would Be Biggest U.S. Deficit -- Democrats Point to Tax Cuts.” Why not “Conservatives Point to Medicare Drug Spending?”

• July 15 -- Still Looking for the Liberal Label
Robin Toner and Robert Pear went label-crazy on conservatives in their story on Medicare coverage of prescription drugs, using the “conservative” label six times while avoiding “liberal” entirely. This in a story featuring Sen. Ted Kennedy.

• June 24 -- “Democrat of Massachusetts,” Part 2
Tuesday’s Times reverts to old habits. Robin Toner and Robert Pear’s story on the Medicare drug bill contains 10 “conservative” versus one “liberal” label, and again terms ultra-liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy simply as a “Democrat of Massachusetts.”

• June 3 -- Bad Medicine At The Times
Times critics are “flooding the zone” regarding the paper’s slanted coverage of the pharmaceutical industry, with one suggesting an Augusta National-style crusade in the works against drug companies.