The Express Newspaper - Health Reporting Malfeasance Exposed

Express Health Editor Victoria Fletcher exposed for abuse, incompetence and her newspaper's deliberate attempt to mislead the British public over the Gardasil vaccine issue by publishing misinformation to benefit the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and the Department of Health UK

http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/

On the 25 June 2007, One Click ran a story on the Express newspaper coverage of the Gardasil HPV vaccine entitled Daily Express UK - Sex Virus Vaccine and Death.

Although some semblance of small effort from the Express in reporting the adverse reactions and deaths resulting from the Gardasil vaccine far too little and far too late, this newspaper then proceeded to deliberately mislead its readers and the general public with a whopping piece of gross mendacity over the approval granted on 20 June 2007 for the Gardasil vaccine by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the Department of Health (DoH) in Britain.

In order to purposefully misinform its readers and to protect the JCVI and the DoH by publishing false information, the Express maintained that these bodies had no knowledge of the Gardasil adverse reactions FDA data until *after* they had approved the Gardasil vaccine for use on young British girls, that has resulted in three deaths. The clear implication put forward by the Express was that if the JCVI and DoH had been privy to this data, their decision on Gardasil would have been very different.

In fact, the Gardasil vaccine adverse reactions data was globally released on the 23 May 2007 to media acclaim right around the world, with the exception of Britain, one month before the JCVI and the DoH made its Gardasil ruling.

What has occurred over the adverse reactions Gardasil data is a salutary indication of the intertwined relationship between the British media, the government and the pharmaceutical industry.

Internationally unique for this action, the British media failed carry this story that was receiving headlines around the world whilst the JCVI and the DoH were carrying out their Gardasil vaccine deliberations. Instead and after the event, the Express decided to misinform its readers on purpose.

It beggars belief to find that a national newspaper such as the Express would go to such lengths to deliberately mislead its readers and protect the JCVI and the DoH over the Gardasil vaccine adverse reactions that matters so much to so many, especially the parents of the girls that have died.

To correct the misinformation published by the Express, One Click wrote to Express Health Editor Victoria Fletcher on the 26 June 2007 to request that the gross misrepresentation of this issue that matters to so many families in the UK be corrected by the Express. We received no reply except for the abuse delineated below.

We publish a selection of the Fletcher/One Click correspondence below for your edification. One Click has been inundated with emails from this silly woman who clearly has great difficulty in finding her way out of a paper bag, let alone providing accurate health reporting.

"It is utterly shocking to see how the Express has attempted to manipulate its readers over the Gardasil vaccine British approval issue," says Jane Bryant, One Click Group Director. "The misreporting incompetence and abuse displayed by Express Health Editor Victoria Fletcher presumably goes some way to explaining why the Express circulation figures are dropping like a stone. Readers quite rightly do not care to be fed deliberate misinformation by the Express."

The One Click Group

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The One Click/Victoria Fletcher, Express Newspaper Correspondence

From: The One Click Group
Sent: 26 June 2007 12:27
To: Victoria.Fletcher@Express.co.uk
Subject: Story Correction - Sex Virus Vaccine Linked To Three Deaths

FAO Victoria Fletcher, Health Editor

Dear Victoria

On 24 June 2007, the Express ran a story about the safety of the Gardasil HPV vaccine to be introduced to the health system in 2008 entitled Sex Virus Vaccine Linked To Three Deaths. The Express is to be congratulated in putting this information out in the public domain, but one of the hooks of this story and upon which it hinges is false.

Lucy Johnston writes in the Express: "The [Gardasil] news comes just days after the Department of Health announced the drug would be added to the childhood immunisation programme from autumn 2008."

This is incorrect. Here is the timeline:

1. 23 May 2007. Judicial Watch releases Gardasil Adverse Reactions Data from the FDA. This news was immediately fired all over the world and reported in the media from the USA to Australia, to New Zealand and back with the exception of the UK.

2. 20 June 2007. One month later, the UK Department of Health announces that HPV vaccines should be introduced routinely for girls aged around 12-13 years.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation UK made its ruling on Gardasil a month *after* the adverse HPV vaccine reactions data was being broadcast around the world.

We would be grateful if this salient fact in this story could be corrected in the terrestrial version of the Express in the Letters Page if possible, please, and look forward to hearing further from you. Misinformation should not be promulgated by a national newspaper on an issue that matters so much to so many.

Many thanks and regards

The One Click Group
www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk

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From: Victoria Fletcher Victoria.Fletcher@Express.co.uk
Sent: 10 July 2007 10:57
To: mail@theoneclickgroup.co.uk
Subject:

Please take me off your email list TODAY. I AM GETTING VERY ANNOYED WITH THE SODDING RUBBISH YOU SEND ME

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From: The One Click Group
Sent: 10 July 2007 12:47
To: Victoria.Fletcher@Express.co.uk
Subject: The Abusive Victoria Fletcher - Express Health Editor

Dear Victoria

What an abusive old bunny you are. It would appear that not only are you health editor incompetent as the recent Express/Gardasil Vaccine story in the Express so clearly shows, but you are also technically illiterate.

If you wish to be unsubscribed from the One Click Group mailing list, we suggest that you put your brain into gear and follow the instructions set out in your very own email that includes this: “You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL: http://mailer.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/u/tocg“

We note that you have failed to respond to the email sent to you over the Express/Gardasil incompetence that we are now attaching for your edification once again.

The One Click pressure group doesn’t take kindly to abuse and so we plan to publish your correspondence, together with your email address, on the website later on today. This will vastly amuse your competitors such as the Mail, The Times, The Telegraph, The Observer and The Guardian et al, who all receive the One Click News Alerts. They are in good company with Cabinet Ministers, MPs, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, academics, doctors, patients, family and friends from around the world.

You may look forward to the worldwide coverage that you are about to receive shortly. We suggest that keeping a civil tongue in your head is always the best policy.

With best wishes

The One Click Group
www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk