A New Trend?

The Tribune has a guest opinion today entitled "Comparing apples and oranges: Health care is not Social Security." The article is interesting, but what I am interested in is the bio of the writer.

At the end of the column, the Tribune writes this about the author: "Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute, a not-for-profit research organization that specializes in health policy; it is funded in part by the pharmaceutical industry. [Editorial Comment: Oooooo bad!] Readers may write to her at Galen, 8 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA 22320, or email her at galengalen.org [sic]. For information about Galen Institute's funding, please go to http://www.galen.org/join.asp."

When I read this I was hopeful. Perhaps the newspaper that had once described Susan Sontag as merely an "essayist" was turning over a new leaf. (Susan Sontag was quoted as saying that 9/11 was not "a cowardly attack on 'civilization' or 'liberty' or 'humanity' or 'the free world.'" She has also called the white race the "cancer of human history.") Perhaps the Tribune would now opt to fully disclose the backgrounds of all the people who write guest opinions.

But alas, also in today's paper there was a column by Tim Giago, president of the "Native American Journalists Foundation Inc." but Mr. Giago's bio was strangely silent about his organization's funding sources. Guess he's not funded by the drug companies.