November 24, 2008
To The Infinite Mind's listeners, supporters and affiliated public radio stations:
On November 20, Lichtenstein Creative Media, producer of public radio's The Infinite Mind, first learned through a phone call from a reporter for the New York Times, that our program's host, Dr. Fred Goodwin, had accepted at least $1.3 million in pharmaceutical company speakers' fees, while he was hosting our series of programs.
In an unrelated decision, we had already ceased production of the radio show, and had notifed radio stations that the program would be going off the air after its 10-year run. The internal decision to terminate the program was made in October, well before any of this information had emerged, and occurred in large part because of a lack of funding to support the show.
We learned about the full scope of Dr. Goodwin’s conflicts of interest with the print publication of the New York Times article on November 22. Senator Charles Grassley provided the New York Times with evidence that Dr. Goodwin had accepted speakers fees from companies whose products included medications discussed on The Infinite Mind. (The Infinite Mind covered a broad range of topics related to the human mind, brain and spirit. Most of our programs, as regular listeners will know, dealt with subjects that did not include any discussion of pharmaceuticals or the pharmaceutical industry.)
Dr. Goodwin’s acceptance of these fees was in direct violation of his written contract with LCM, which states, in part: "Any conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest should be avoided at all costs. This means avoiding any situation where your role on the show as host could be influenced, or might come into conflict with your other professional or personal responsibilities or financial gain … To help insure that you are not involved in editorial material that presents a conflict with your work outside of The Infinite Mind, you agree to disclose to LCM existing and any new business relationships as they occur that could potentially be perceived as representing a conflict of interest with your role as a public radio commentator or journalist. You also agree to disclose to LCM any business relationships that existed during your time as host since 1997 which may have presented a conflict of interest as defined above.” (See www.LCMedia.com/agreement.pdf for a copy of the signed agreement in its entirety).
There was no gray area. Fred Goodwin was legally bound to inform LCM of any conflicts of interest. And he didn't.
In response to the New York Times article, National Public Radio announced it would remove the program, which is independently produced and distributed by LCM to more than 225 public radio markets across the country, from its Sirius satellite channel. (See NPR statement)
The New York Times article was devastating to a program that for 10 years had endeavored to maintain the highest levels of integrity. As the New York Times pointed out, LCM has received more than 60 major journalism awards, including a George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting, TV and radio's highest honor; a Media Award from the United Nations; six National Headliner Awards; four Gracie Awards from American Women in Radio and Television; and five Unity Awards in Media from Lincoln University of Missouri for coverage of minority issues.
We applaud Senator Grassley's diligent efforts to work toward transparency in pharmaceutical funding. We have contacted Senator Grassley’s office and offered our support in this work.
We can only apologize for this breach of trust with our loyal listeners, supporters and public radio stations.