Long Before COVID Scandals, Investigative Journalists Revealed Pharma Corruption in University Research and Federal Agencies

Investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson reminds the public in her new book that medical experts and institutions have been exposed for decades of malfeasance, even if today’s reporters want to forget.

18 minuted read

Two years after President Biden said the COVID pandemic is over, independent media continue to expose errors and lies that happened during the pandemic. But in her new book, investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson wants to assure you that lies in medicine existed long before COVID surfaced a bunch of online experts to misinform the public—promoting masks when the CDC’s own experts concluded they didn’t do much to stop viruses—for example.

Recounting her reporting experiences, Attkisson reveals how the pharma industry betrays the public to rake in profits, corrupting academic researchers, government agencies and purported watchdogs promoted by a bought-off media. When caught, these actors will then flip on their backs and expose their bellies while pointing the finger at those exposing them as the real bad guys. Attkisson describes these incidents in her fourth book, the new bestseller “Follow the Science: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails.”

For thirty years, Attkisson was a correspondent and anchor at CBS News, PBS, CNN and in local news. During that span, she won five Emmy Awards, and the Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting. She is now host of the Sunday morning national TV news program, Sinclair’s “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson,” which focuses on investigative and accountability reporting.

“Sadly, there was a time when you could watch a half hour of the evening news on CBS or read through The New York Times to get a pretty good idea of what's going on,” Attkisson told me while sitting outside on her backyard deck in Northern Florida. “I don't think we have that anymore,” she adds.

“All the things we're talking about, including intentional disinformation put out by the government, CDC and the vaccine industry—which I've documented quite well in the book—nobody's been held accountable,” she warns. “So they’ll do it all again.”  

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.