Comments on: Four reasons we won’t miss Oprah

By: PharmK

PharmK — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:48:09 +0000

With all due respect to Dr. Joe’s comment, the difference between somebody like Oprah supporting alternative therapies and your average neighborhood health food store trainee is that when Oprah endorses something, that product or treatment or fad is WIDELY assumed by MILLIONS to be of bona fide benefit, not just theory. Somebody who wields that kind of awesome power must thus be even more cautious in flogging ANYTHING on the air or in her magazine. I too have cringed at some of the so-called health “experts” she has devoted an entire hour of free publicity to over the years.

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:55:37 +0000

In reply to Dr Joe.

Hi Dr. Joe – thanks so much for your comments. Trouble is, when Oprah speaks, the “Oprah Effect” takes over. She once told Newsweek interviewers: “I believe my viewers understand the medical information presented on the show is just that—information—not an endorsement or prescription”. But as Dr. Gunter suggests, the influence of the powerful “Oprah Effect” was such that public airing of these views is far more likely to result in rubber-stamp acceptance, no matter how “different or wacky” they are.
Cheers,
C.

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By: Dr Joe

Dr Joe — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:01:35 +0000

Hmmm. Have to disagree with this one. Some people may have different, even wacky, ideas but better to have them publicly aired and people can form their own views. We do not want only the voice of doctors and pharma to be heard. Also as we know, not all that is paraded as “medical science” is valid. Hence not everything that is viewed as “unscientific” is wrong.

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