Stephen J. Porth

Reporters pass on the typical litany of lightning-rod issues and instead devote more than three-quarters of all coverage in 2008 to drug safety—and the regulators who enforce it.

Pharma gets less ink as news reporters shift their sights to other topics? That's a good thing--Isn't it?

And while reporters aren't writing any more about the industry, the topics they cover are a moving target.

The good news is that America's top newspapers were fairer to pharma in 2006. But coverage remains largely negative—and the hot topics are catching the industry by suprise.

The majority of headlines opposed the industry: 57.1 percent were negative, 18.1 percent were positive, and 24.8 percent were neutral. But the headlines were less negative than the stories themselves.