It’s funny how you can spin something pretty much any way you want, by just using different words and phrasing for a headline.

For instance, to the handful of health bloggers invited by J&J to meet them at a NYC restaurant for a free dinner and drinks, some in attendance claimed that "BrandweekNRX: J&J Hosts Blogger Summit." This headline, though, suggests some sort of formal conference of leaders of health blogging. Since, that’s sort of what the meaning of “summit” is (you know, specific words should actually mean something).

But reading the blog entries, it’s fairly obvious this was just a meeting to pick the minds of health bloggers by a company who may or may not be interested in leveraging blogging to improve their brand image (and product images).

Did anyone who attended the event disclose the amount of money spent to pay for their dinner and drinks? Should we expect more positive coverage of J&J in the future from these bloggers (or other bloggers hoping to get invited to the next “event”)??

And, not surprising, these are the same bloggers who decry the fact that pharmaceutical companies reimburse doctors for their expenses, consulting time or the like. Lost in the hoopla in some reporting on this topic is that the average reimbursement was $177/doctor in Vermont, around $1,000/doctor in Minnesota (Minnesota has a much larger research and clinical base).

Should doctors and pharmaceutical companies disclose publicly such reimbursements? Sure, why not?

Should bloggers also disclose their financial ties, even if it’s just dinner (hey, you can easily run up a $177 tab/per person in NYC restaurants!), to pharmaceutical companies too? You bet.

Bloggers are as much middlemen (middlepeople?) in the healthcare system in the U.S. as any doc is, given how many Americans are increasingly turning to the Internet for health information and guidance.

Are these (and other) health bloggers going to continuously disclose such “perks” of the job to their readers? How about whether they own any stock in a pharmaceutical (or competing) company? Because if we’re demanding such disclosures from docs and others involved in helping people make informed choices about medications, research and their treatment choices, we should be demanding it from anyone who is influencing people’s opinions.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 22 Mar 2007
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.