It's Official. Rost Takes Over BrandweekNRX!

Well, it's true -- as I was the first to speculate yesterday -- Peter Rost, pharmaceutical whistleblower extraordinaire -- has taken over the reigns of BrandweekNRX "for a while."

I have immortalized this historic event by capturing the announcement (see image on left; click on it to enlarge).

Read it and ... Weep?

Not yet. Let's give Rost a chance. Also, keep in mind that this is Brandweek's BLOG, not the print publication -- the one with the big circulation and that's supposed to be journalistic and objective.

So Rost as BrandweekNRX blogger makes perfect sense... if you intend to flush your blog down the drain as far as pharmaceutical industry readers are concerned -- except for their lawyers, that is.

Rost now joins the comfy-cosy realm of journalist bloggers who get invited to industry meetings that the rest of us are shut out from. In the fall, for example, Rost will be a guest at a major DTC conference in New Jersey -- right in the heart of pharma country! I'm not mentioning names, but the organization that hosts this meeting has been accused of aiding and abetting a lot that's wrong with DTC advertising.

Not that there's anything wrong with inviting the enemy to piss in your tent!

But the more often you piss inside the tent, the less credibility you have when pissing outside the tent, IMHO.

Full Disclosure: I'm a lover, not a pisser! So, I can't jeopardize my rep by appearing inside the tent once and a while. Just in case someone wants to throw a few stones at me.

P.S. Rost said the paycheck from a well-known publication will boost his credibility.

But what about the credibility of BrandweekNRX and Brandweek? I have some data to suggest Rost may have a negative effect on that side of the credibility equation.

For more on this, see "Brandweek Hires Peter Rost, Moves to the Dark Side!"