Letter to the Editor:
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Most of what Lundberg says is transparently self-serving. Miner did not bother to quote anyone who could have pointed out that Lundberg consistently allowed AMA honchos to dictate editorial content, including suppressing articles they didn’t like. One example is an investigative report I wrote about the Newt Gingrich-allied Golden Rule Insurance Co. in October of 1995 (a story that subsequently was reported by the CBS Evening News and the Indianapolis Star). Miner knew about that at the time but seems to have conveniently forgotten. He also quotes Lundberg effusively praising editor Kathy Trombatore–a Texas Medical Association PR flack whom he brought in to replace a relatively more principled journalist-editor because the latter wasn’t pliable enough. Miner could easily have found current and former staffers who say Trombatore has been a disaster.
The one arguably brave moment Miner cites in AM News’s recent history was its coverage of the AMA’s Sunbeam endorsement fiasco. Of course, every other newspaper and magazine was writing about it, so how could AM News not have done so? But that was four years ago. What brave thing has the paper done since then?
Michael Miner replies:
