Still none of your business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's the headline from the lead story in the business section of a nearby newspaper: "Celebrex tops Vioxx in study." PHILADELPHIA -- New\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/12\/07\/still-none-of-your-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Still none of your business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here's the headline from the lead story in the business section of a nearby newspaper: "Celebrex tops Vioxx in study." PHILADELPHIA -- New\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/12\/07\/still-none-of-your-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-12-07T07:21:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/12\/07\/still-none-of-your-business\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/12\/07\/still-none-of-your-business\/\",\"name\":\"Still none of your business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-12-07T07:21:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-12-07T07:21:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"Here's the headline from the lead story in the business section of a nearby newspaper: "Celebrex tops Vioxx in study." 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A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Still none of your business","description":"Here's the headline from the lead story in the business section of a nearby newspaper: "Celebrex tops Vioxx in study." 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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{"id":976,"date":"2004-12-07T07:21:12","date_gmt":"2004-12-07T07:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/12\/07\/still-none-of-your-business\/"},"modified":"2004-12-07T07:21:12","modified_gmt":"2004-12-07T07:21:12","slug":"still-none-of-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/12\/07\/still-none-of-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Still none of your business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here's the headline from the lead story in the business section of a nearby newspaper: \"Celebrex tops Vioxx in study<\/a>.\"<\/p>\n

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 New research suggests that top-selling pain reliever Celebrex does not carry the same heart attack risk as Vioxx, a similar drug pulled from the market in September because of safety concerns.<\/i><\/p>\n

Celebrex is a widely used drug for treating arthritis pain, so this is big news. But what's it doing in the business section?<\/p>\n

Part of the answer has to do with the mundane rhythms of the newspaper business. The Associated Press put this story out on the \"health\" wire, which makes sense, since the 14 million arthritis sufferers taking Celebrex (and millions more taking similar drugs) need to know about whatever heart-attack risks they may or may not be incurring.<\/p>\n

The AP also put this story out on the business wire \u2014 which also makes sense, since news of studies like this one will have an effect on the stock price of pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer (maker of Celebrex) and Merck (maker of the recalled Vioxx). Since the business day closes at 5 p.m., business sections usually have earlier deadlines and get wrapped up sooner than the rest of the paper, so they tend to get first dibs on wire stories.<\/p>\n

So I don't imagine that there's any sinister motive in running a story like this in the business section. The effect of doing so, however, is not so innocent.<\/p>\n

Many more people \u2014 many more readers and subscribers \u2014 take Celebrex than own shares in Pfizer, so one might think this story should be run with their concerns in mind. But by setting it aside in the business section, the paper sends the message that the interest of shareholders trumps the interest of arthritis sufferers.<\/p>\n

That's not a good message to send. Yet every day you can find countless examples of newspapers doing this very thing. Recalls and health warnings and consumer safety articles \u2014 matters that may be of extreme importance to readers who don't own stock and therefore rarely scan the business section \u2014 are regularly reported only from the perspective of how they will affect a company's share price.<\/p>\n

Changing this custom would be a worthy step toward restoring a sense of proportion and unskewed priority to newspaper journalism.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"