Doctoring The News

[February 1st, 2006] A past president of the Oregon Medical Association is steamed about Portland Monthly's January issue—and not because the glossy left him off its "top doctors" list.

"I think they're trying to dupe the reading public," says Dr. George Waldman, a family practitioner who was the state medical-association president in 1995-96.

Waldman credits the magazine for doing a fine job identifying the city's top docs.

"I know many of those people and I think they chose the right names," says Waldman, semi-retired after nearly three decades of practicing and now treating low-income patients at the Wallace Medical Concern in Portland..

But the placement of advertising in and around the list of top doctors did cause Waldman to grind his teeth.

The article begins with profiles of five top practitioners and then on page 57, moves into lists of various specialists. Where page 58 should be, however, is a full page describing the "extraordinary therapy" provided by a doctor named Jennifer Casey.

At the top of Page 58 is a banner that reads "PM Medical Professionals," and in smaller type at the bottom of the page is the word "Advertisement."

Waldman says the average reader thumbing through Portland Monthly could easily get the impression that Casey is one of Portland's top doctors: The type in the ad is similar to the type in the article about the top docs and it is designed similarly with a "pull-quote" embedded in a black box next to the doctor's picture.

(Casey's website says she is a naturopathic doctor, although her licensure from the state of Oregon is as a massage therapist.)

To Waldman, the magazine was too cute by half. "They mixed up an ad section with a section about some real fine doctors," he says. "I think that was inappropriate." He says he reads widely and avidly and the distinction was not clear enough to him.

Waldman notes that his current work with low-income patients means he's not competing with the docs designated as tops, giving him "no ax to grind."

Waldman's concerns come as a surprise to Portland Monthly editor-in-chief Ted Katauskas.

"That's the first complaint I've heard," Katauskas says. "We've been using the same template for advertorials since the magazine started. We want to be very clear what is advertising and what is editorial.

"If people have issues with the way we're presenting information, we'll respond," Katauskas adds. "The value of our editorial product is sacrosanct."