Bloomberg’s viral misquote : Columbia Journalism Review
▻http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/bloombergs_viral_misquote_1.php?page=all
That quote sounded a little too perfectly evil, and I couldn’t find the original anywhere online. So I asked Bayer whether Bloomberg had it wrong. They did.
Here’s what Dekkers actually said, at a Financial Times conference that day, on a panel called “Buffering the Pharma Brand: Restoring Reputation, Rebuilding Trust” (the above link leads to video of the panel and the relevant part starts at about 19:00 in):
“Is this going to have a big effect on our business model? No, because we did not develop this product for the Indian market, let’s be honest. We developed this product for Western patients who can afford this product, quite honestly. It is an expensive product, being an oncology product.
mais :
Agence France Presse, as far as I could find, was the only outlet that fact-checked the quote with Bayer, and even then the system broke down.
Bayer said the statements attributed to Dekkers were accurate and forwarded written comments made later by the German chief executive seeking to explain his remarks.
et Bloomberg a corrigé avec la mention :
(Corrects last paragraph to show Dekkers said “Indian market” and include full quote.)
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-21/merck-to-bristol-myers-face-more-threats-on-india-patents.html