6 years ago: Bread and Circuits

April 9, 2007, on this blog: Bread and Circuits

Consider, for example, the news that taking Vioxx involved greater-than-reported risk of heart failure. That was really big news for the many consumers who were taking the drug, but there were no headlines reading, “You Might Be in Danger of Heart Failure.” Instead, there were dozens of headlines reading, “You Might Want to Sell Your Shares in Merck.” The “you” of the second headline referred to a much smaller group, and carried a much less urgent message, but that’s (stupidly, indefensibly) how the Business section works. The much larger group, which needed to hear a much more urgent message, was forced to read between the lines in dozens of shareholder-focused stories that didn’t so much bury the lede as render it tangential to what they believed was most important: how increased risk of heart failure would affect share prices.