Facebook could do the same, and it's doubtful if anyone would even notice – a 1% increase in favourable articles to one party might have strong national effects, but be indistinguishable from normality on a standard users' account.
In total, 86% (30/35) of favourable articles were associated with a financial conflict of interest with the manufacturer of rosiglitazone, compared with 18% (13/72) of articles that reported an unfavourable viewpoint (rate ratio 4.69, 95% CI 2.84 to 7.72).
Favourable articles appeared in The New York Times and the Washington Times-Herald, which ran the headline "Hardy Wild-Eyed Aussies Called World's Finest Troops".
Soon after the game's release, hundreds of favourable articles and stories about the emerging video game medium popularized by Space Invaders aired on television and were printed in newspapers and magazines.
Moreover, consistent with the scientific literature, all but one article presented a favourable conclusion regarding smoking cessation therapy for ADM patients.
We also found this relation when we undertook an analysis of recommendations on use: 81% (13/16) of articles expressing a favourable recommendation had financial conflicts of interest with the manufacturer of rosiglitazone, compared with 13% (4/31) of articles expressing an unfavourable recommendation (rate ratio 6.50, 95% CI 2.56 to 16.53).
Two of them have been forced to write articles giving a favourable account of life in the camp, and their names are in the possession of your correspondent.
Two reviewers blinded to the authors' financial relationships independently classified each article as presenting a favourable (that is, rosiglitazone does not increase the risk of myocardial infarction), neutral, or unfavourable view on the risk of myocardial infarction with rosiglitazone and on recommendations on the use of the drug.
Authors with neutral articles who had also written favourable or unfavourable articles were considered as having a favourable or an unfavourable opinion, respectively.
