How one health scare became news across EuropeA study on how media reporting on the Poly Implant Prothese scandal spread across France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK

Red paper

Released February 2013

The Review of the Regulation of Cosmetic Interventions was set up by the UK Secretary of State for Health following the PiP breast implant scandal. At the end of December 2012 the Review published interim findings which were reported extensively, generating a spike in coverage of the Poly Implant Prothese (PiP) scandal in the UK media.

This coverage prompted LexisNexis to examine the longer term trends in coverage of the PIP scandal across the UK, France, Netherlands and Germany – here is what we found.Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) was a French company founded in 1991 that has produced breast implants for around 400,000 women worldwide. In 2011 the company went into liquidation following a public health scare that has continued to this day.We used Nexis, our online service for news and business information to look at how news of the scandal spread throughout Europe.

Although there were a handful of scare stories back in April 2010, including a prominent feature in the Daily Mail, PIP initially fell out of the media spotlight. However, following the death of the first woman in France linked to the implants in November 2011, the issue fell back into focus. The news was initially only reported in French publications, being first reported by the French regional daily Sud Ouest and tabloid newspaper Charente Libre before Agence France Presse picked it up and helped to spread the story online. Reports of the scare spread to the UK when it was revealed that authorities in France were expected to call in all women who had been given PIP implants in order to have them removed and replaced. There was almost a month between news of the death of a woman in France and the Telegraph.co.uk reporting that 45,000 women were known to have implants.The growing litany of accusations against the by then defunct PIP saw a peak in media coverage across all four countries in January 2012.

LexisNexis® PIP red paper

0

75

150

225

300

375

450

UK

Netherlands

Germany

France

Oct

-12

Sep

t-12

Au-

12

July

-12

June

-12

May

-12

Ap

r-12

Mar

-12

Feb

-12

Jan-

12

Dec

-11

No

v-11

Vo

lum

e o

f co

vera

ge

In the UK, regionalnewspapers pickedup on the story in thesummer, with theScottish press focus-ing on news that thegovernment hadrejected calls for aninquiry.French coveragespiked in July with thenews that Jean-ClaudeMas, PIP’s founder, hadbeen indicted for"involuntary injury".

News of the arrest of the founder of PIP drove the spike incoverage across all four markets. Reassurances were also beingsought by women who had received breast implants fromhospitals across Europe that PIP products had not been used.

The news that thefounder of PIP wasabout to freed aftereight months in prisonsaw a further spikein coverage inOctober 2012 inFrance and Germany.In the UK, reportsfocused on the newsthe NHS was planningto remove 1,000faulty PIP implants

N.B. 7 articles appeared in France prior to November 2011

Claims in the French media that the implants

contained a chemical normally used in petrol

were repeated in all four countries and led to

a corresponding surge (and peak) in Google

searches for the company in January 2012.

Although coverage of the issue fell away in

subsequent months it remained in the news

throughout 2012, with media outlets reporting

any updates on the case and carrying interviews

with women affected by the scare.

UK7%

Netherlands13%

Germany24%

France56%

Volume of media coverage by region and date

The higher volume

of reports in France

reflected the fact

that it was the origin

of the story.

Share of media coverage by country

How one health scare became news across Europe

LexisNexis® PIP red paper

Across the year, conservative broadsheets were the most prominent

in reporting the news, with Le Figaro and The Daily Telegraph and the

top print publications.

The Daily Telegraph championed the cause in the UK, beginning its

own investigations into the implants shortly after the scandal initially

erupted towards the end of 2011. The newspaper recently reported

that it had “carried out extensive research into the approval system,

talking to experts, doctors and academics, and joining forces with

the esteemed peer-reviewed British Medical Journal”, adding:

“Again and again, the reporters were told that it was terminally

flawed and failing British patients. Concerns were raised about

specific notified bodies - licensing bodies - in certain countries.

After taking legal advice, The Telegraph concluded that the only way

to disclose the flaws was to mount an undercover operation and

that there was a clear public interest in doing so.”

The paper’s eurosceptic stance was emphasised by the investiga-

tion’s focus on the “serious questions [raised by] the licensing of

such products in the EU”.

In today’s globalised world, where products, services and stories

cross borders with ease, a news item can quickly spread from its

country of origin to be carried by the press across the markets

affected by the story, and beyond. PIP is a case in point.

0 50 100 150 200 250

LePoint.fr

Le Parisien

SDA - Service de base français

Le Figaro

Agence France Presse

Volume of coverage

Top French publications

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Süddeutsche Zeitung(inkl. Regionalausgaben)

dapd Basisdienst (ehemals ddp)

dpa-AFX ProFeed

Rheinische Post Duesseldorf

Agence France Presse - German

Volume of coverage

Top German publications

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

De Morgen

Dagblad De Limburger

De Standaard

Het Laatste Nieuws

Algemeen NederlandsPersbureau ANP

Volume of coverage

Top Dutch publications

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Press Association

Independent.co.uk

Manchester Evening News

The Daily Telegraph

telegraph.co.uk

Volume of coverage

Top UK publications

0 50 100 150 200 250

dpa-AFX ProFeed

Rheinische Post Duesseldorf

LePoint.fr

Le Parisien

The Daily Telegraph

SDA - Service de base français

Le Figaro

Agence France Presse - German

telegraph.co.uk

Agence France Presse

Volume of coverage

Top publications by language

Top overall publications (all languages)

LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license, © 2011 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

LexisNexis Amsterdam

T +31 (0)20 485 34 56 E servicedesk@lexisnexis.nl

W www.lexisnexis.nl

LexisNexis Business Information Solutions are designed to help

you generate increased value and protection for your organisation.

Our leading products and services are used throughout the world

and in virtually every industry and area of business. Because every

organisation is unique, we can adapt our products to your individual

business needs—providing you with easy-to-use, comprehensive,

and cost-effective solutions.

LexisNexis helps you reach your business goals with solutions for

the following:

• Market and Media Monitoring: Monitor media, reputation, market trends and competitors We help you analyse and visualise large volumes of news and

business data, both from print sources and the Web. Understand

the media’s view on your company, brand, market or competitor

at a glance, and drill down to the specific document or mention

that is most relevant to you. Our unique sentiment analysis helps

you quickly discern between positive, negative or neutral

mentions of your organisation, brand or product.

• Risk and Compliance: Protect your business reputation by conducting comprehensive, cost effective due diligence and screening Know your customers, agents and suppliers better through

enhanced due diligence and in-depth screening. We help

companies meet their regulatory requirements for anti-money

laundering, anti-bribery & corruption and sanctions checks.

Conduct fast, efficient and extensive due diligence while

maintaining key audit data and ongoing monitoring.

• Research: Access information from over 36,000 international news and business sourcesTens of thousands of sources are at your disposal to research

virtually any political or business topic. With archives dating back

up to 35 years, we provide results that paint the whole picture,

rather than just the most recent headlines. LexisNexis aggregates

information from over 36,000 international news and business

sources, as well as thousands of business-relevant web sites,

blogs and forums. Our content portfolio ranges from news papers

to trade magazines, from company databases to market reports,

with literally millions of new documents added to our database

every single day.

With more than 3,000 customers in over 60 countries we are

the leading provider of Business Information Solutions in Benelux,

France, Germany, UK, Southern-, Northern- and Eastern Europe,

Middle East and Latin America.

Nexis

Nexis is an online service for your strategic news and business

research. You can search for content from 36,000 publications.

Nexis helps you to conduct accurate searches of the 36,000

international sources in the Nexis online service. You can make

informed business decisions after getting the latest news and

market reports. Adapt the interface to target your results, using

the power of the LexisNexis® database.

• Quickly get facts to give your business the competitive edge

• Find news, company, demographic, and country information

• Select sources easily

• Search at a basic level or use advanced functions

• Choose from a variety of newspaper archives up to 30 years

• Stay up-to-date through News Alerts

About LexisNexis