Pubdate: Thu, 12 Feb 2004
Source: Orlando Weekly (FL)
Copyright: 2004 Orlando Weekly
Contact:  http://www.orlandoweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/683
Author: Bob Whitby
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/purdue+pharma
Note: Series " OxyContin Under Fire "
http://www.mapinc.org/source/orlando+sentinel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/david+rokisky

THE DEVIL HIS DUE

Two weeks ago this wildly popular columnist wrote a squib defending
the Orlando Sentinel, of all things, for their October series
investigating deaths from the prescription drug OxyContin. Predictions
that monkeys would take wing and swine recite poetry when Slug wrote a
kind word about the Sentinel failed to materialize. In an odd twist,
however, the Sentinel has gone out of its way to beat itself up for
portraying a convicted felon as a modern Ward Cleaver.

After "Drug deals" appeared in this space Jan. 29, the Sentinel went
public Feb. 1 with the fact that David Rokisky, an ex-cop upon whom
reporter Doris Bloods-worth lavished five stories, was not as he
appeared. Turns out the paper's favorite "accidental addict" has
convictions for drug conspiracy and forgery. But the Sentinel didn't
know that until Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, did a check on
Rokisky and detailed their findings in a Dec. 15 letter to Sentinel
managing editor Elaine Kramer. The Sentinel quoted Kramer saying that
Feb. 1.

Four days later the paper ran a story stating that Rokisky's past was
known by "one or more people in the newsroom" in early November --
before the Purdue letter arrived -- making Kramer look silly. Taking a
page from the Bush administration, the Sentinel launched an official
investigation. Public editor Manning Pynn, likely awakened from an
afternoon nap, got righteous and indignant. "After several hours of
initial interviews, though, I can confirm that there was a basic flaw
in the Sentinel's research of Rokisky," he wrote Feb. 8. (Let's hope
the paper is paying top dollar for that kind of insight.)

Pynn went on to quote from an article written by former Sentinel
editor Tim Franklin: "Our mantra should be: Transparency builds trust."
Right. Except when other media get interested. Then it's time to play duck
and cover.

You see, there's a troubling question about the OxyContin/Rokisky/Sentinel
flap that hasn't been cleared up: When Bloodsworth interviewed Rokisky
last summer for her stories, did she know he was -- in addition to
being convicted on drug and forgery charges -- a well-compensated
spokesman for the doctor that detoxed him? If so, why didn't she
report that fact? And if not, why not?

I called Bloodsworth to ask her about the relationship between Rokisky
and Dr. Rick Sponaugle of Florida Detox in Tarpon Springs, but she
didn't want to be quoted. Then she stopped talking and referred me to
Sentinel spokesperson Ashley Allen, who promised to shop my questions
around the newsroom. Allen called back a few days later to say she
couldn't talk either. "It wouldn't be appropriate at this point for me
to go into any details until we have completed our
investigation."

Dr. Rick Sponaugle, the medical director of Florida Detox in Tarpon
Springs where Rokisky went to have the OxyContin flushed out of his
system, says he often gives patients free treatment in return for
their cooperation with the press. "We have financially assisted all
patients who are willing to go public with their story." Rokisky was
one of the patients who got $10,000 worth of treatment for free in
return for cooperating with the media, Sponaugle says.

Which is acceptable, maybe, if readers are aware of it and can weigh
his comments accordingly. But Bloodsworth didn't mention it in her
five-part series about Rokisky's treatment. That's a problem when
Bloodsworth calls Rokisky "another success story for Dr. Rick
Sponaugle, the Tarpon Springs anesthesiologist who fine-tuned the
process called rapid detox."

Sponaugle says he never told Bloods-worth about the
story-for-treatment deal. But, he adds, neither was he hiding it. He
did it all the time.

The fact that Rokisky was both a convicted felon and a shill for
Florida Detox makes him a very bad choice indeed for a human-interest
angle, and seriously discredits Bloodsworth's otherwise excellent
series. And though I'm still troubled by the fact that it was Purdue
Pharma, in full damage-control mode, that brought to light allegations
against Rokisky and the Sentinel, sometimes you gotta give the devil
his due.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin