It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that there is an incredible anti-pharmaceutical bias in the media. However, the Business & Media Institute’s new report documents and quantifies this bias. In its new report, “ Prescription for Bias,” the conservative think-tank demonstrates the considerable anti-pharmaceutical attitude in broadcast media.

“Prescription for Bias” looks at network broadcast coverage during the first three quarters of 2006. The report found that 80% of the stories offer a distorted or slanted view of the industry through completely excluding the viewpoint of the industry. In only 22% of the media stories was the name of the company who invented the new drug therapy even mentioned.

Usually when a group with a strong viewpoint puts out a report like this, it’s pretty easy to punch holes in the logic. However, the methodology is strong and I’m impressed with how this one stands up.

I would be really interested to see this group do a study on print media coverage of the pharmaceutical industry. Since print coverage does not have the same stringent 30-second soundbite rules, print coverage could be more balanced. Or not.