If there is one journo that deserves praise for uncovering the truth, my vote goes to Phil Dawdy of Furious Seasons.
Sure, there are some excellent journo's out there, Bass, Pringle and Silverman to name but a few. But whereas the aforementioned receive acclaim through various media outlets, Dawdy plods along writing on the excellent and informative website, Furious Seasons.
His hard work, it seems, is paying off at last.
Author and journalist David Dobbs recently wrote an article on the reporting of Zyprexa by the mainstream press and, what he terms, the 'pajama press'.
He refers to The Times breaking the the uncovering of Lilly's off-label marketing of Zyprexa, for which Lilly last week agreed to pay a $1.42 billion fine. He wrote: "Such source access comes far more readily to an institution like the Times. The lawyer gives the documents to the Times because the Times can make a splash big enough to risk the leak. The Times stayed on the story, creating tremendous pressure, and so did several other papers."
Dobbs then [rightly] praises Dawdy for his work on the above case. He writes:
"However, unique and critical contributions came also from another front -- the blogger Philip Dawdy, who at Furious Seasons has reported and written extensively on Lilly's illegal marketing of this powerful antipsychotic. Dawdy, an independent one-man op working with low pay, no benefits, and minimal infrastructure, is an emblematic pajama journalist. A former journalist (he got laid off), he's open about his interest rising from his experience as someone formerly treated for bipolar disorder with antipsychotic medication. (He's off now, and seems to manage pretty well.) Though he's often accused of being antipsychiatry, he's not. He just feels, like many both outside and inside psychiatrty, that conflicts of interest within the field and hypermarketing on pharma's part have harmed both patients and the discipline. He works hard to practice an impassioned but disciplined type of journalism."
He continues with:
"Dawdy has pressed the Zyprexa story hard since early 2006 -- it's possible no one has read or written more about it -- adding, synthesizing, and commenting on tons of information, and he pulled the sheets off in February 2007 by publishing, at what would seem to be frightening legal risk, the full set of court documents relating to Lilly's Zyprexa marketing. Presumably these are the same documents that were sent to the Times a couple months earlier, but which were not easily obtainable publicly until Dawdy posted them.
How do you compare the contributions here? You can't get the scale to hold still. Yet it's clear that the combination of the Times expose and Dawdy's reporting and outing of the documents created a dual pressure that was crucial to the growing attention the case received, and ultimately to Lilly's extraordinary admission last week of criminal activity."
Slowly but surely great writers are being acknowledged for great work. Dawdy is no exception.
Phil [Dawdy] has become a friend over the years I have known him, so much so that he even went out and purchased a copy of AC/DC's Black Ice after reading about my passion for AC/DC on this blog.
It was Phil who gave me the 'Bruce Lee Award' for 'kicking ass' on his website sometime last year, a website that was featured in the MHRA's paper regarding the influence of bloggers.
Like a lot of us, Phil has faced some tough times health wise and financially. These are everyday obstacles that we all seem to come through [eventually]. Here we have a writer creating awareness about the underhand dealings of psychiatry and pharma, he does this without payment, he does this not knowing if he can afford to meet the payments of his fuel bills or rent at the end of the month.
It takes balls to keep going when everything seems to be going against you, particularly when your fight is against the money making machine that is pharma.
Phil is one of those who has stood up to be counted, he has done it right in the face of adversity. Our lives are pretty much parallel in as much as both Phil and I bang the drum loudly to guide people to the truth. Like me, Phil has his own Internet stalker, like me, Phil struggles financially. Like me, Phil Dawdy has a great passion for seeking the truth and for spreading that truth as far as he possibly can.
Phil deserves the credit from Dobbs, he deserves all the accolades coming to him. The guy should not be left on the heap to rot. There aren't many bloggers who break news stories the way Phil does. Investigative journalists are a rare breed and in Phil Dawdy we have someone keeping the pressure on the corrupt pharma industry and their collusion with psychiatry.
Your time has come buddy. Karma is knocking on your door.
The Bruce Lee Award is heading back to you.
Light one up for me.
Fid
Hat tip - Susan
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