The media world reacts to Brandweek hiring a blogger.

The media world has been abuzz with comments about the fact that a blogger has joined Brandweek's team of writers -  and, of course, you know that I'm talking about the writer of BrandweekNRx.

Jacob Goldstein for the Wall Street Journal Health Blog penned the headline "Ex-Pfizer Exec Can't Shake Marketing Bug" and wrote that "It’s an unorthodox hire, even in the free-wheeling blogosphere."

The WSJ continues, "It’s unclear what mix he’ll play at BrandweekNRX. But he sounded more businessman than pundit. “In the end, this is about readership numbers,” he told us. “It’s fun to just see if I can just help and assist on the Brandweek side and build the site.”

Veteran journalist Ed Silverman from the NJ Star-Ledger, who writes the Pharmalot industry blog, summarizes the situation in the headline "Peter Rost, Pfizer Scourge, Gets A Real Job"

Silverman concludes that Rost's "new gig is interesting for another reason - a blogger who is hired by the mainstream media to replace a journalist. So instead of fading away, Rost is being given an even wider, credible platform to follow pharma. This will, no doubt, drive more than a few people inside Pfizer, and some other companies, a little crazy. But for the rest of us, it should be interesting."

Even John Mack from the PharmaBlogosphere appears to want to give this new constellation a chance. In his post "It's Official. Rost Takes Over BrandweekNRX!" he says, "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."

But since John Mack really wouldn't be John without a tiny little knife hidden among his kind words, he also writes, "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."

The blog Envisioning 2.0 which focuses on healthcare and marketing simply states, "It is likely that Rost, who has extensive marketing experience at Pfizer and other drug firms, will be expected to provide insights into corporate and product promotional strategies. This will be especially valuable as the industry struggles to understand and interact with its Internet empowered stakeholders."

Envisioning concludes, "All in all this is an interesting move for Rost.  Will the Rost-BrandWeek partnership pan out?  Who knows, but it should be an interesting ride."

Finally, CustomScoop blog, published by the company CustomScoop, which provides an automated online clipping services, writes a story about "Bloggers in the mainstream of journalism":

"Rost is a blogger who has established a very high profile in the Pharma blogosphere by taking on Pfizer for off-label marketing practices on his blog, Question Authority. The journalist who had been authoring BrandweekNRx—Jim Edwards—will pursue a journalism fellowship at Columbia University (a very prestigious fellowship; Jim if you find this post, congrats!). Brandweek is a respected industry publication, and Jim Edwards is a journalist. So a blogger—a controversial one at that—is replacing a journalist on the blog of a publication."

In conclusion, most of the media outlets appear to enjoy the latest "unorthodox hire" by Brandweek management, expecting "an interesting ride."

I couldn't ask for more.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Comments

[Hel Vete]

Congratulations to a new way of how to provoke the industry, I think you are the right guy for that job. Good luck, I support you all the way!!

Greetings from Sweden.

/Hel Vete.

[Pharma Giles]

Best wishes on this new venture, Doc, I hope it works out well for all concerned and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens...