Journalists learn more about using social media tools
By Shuka Kalantari (@skalantari; @KQEDhealth)
KQED Public Radio
Though blogging and social media have been around for some time now, some people still argue that blogging, social media and journalism should be independent of one another. Scott Hensley of NPR’s Shots blog contends that couldn’t be further from the truth.
During a panel about “Best practices in blogging and social media” at Health Journalism 2011, Hensley said bloggers and journalists are perfect matches for each other. So how does a blogger decide what to write about?
The #ahcj11 Twitter stream helped attendees share information at Health Journalism 2011.
“I want to write the most interesting stuff online,” Hensley said. “The stuff that is burning to be done right now, then see where it goes.”
He advised journalists to check their Twitter feed in the morning as it might give you story ideas.
“Twitter and Facebook can be a booster rocket to make a post go viral.” He added that it doesn’t always work but, if the post is interesting, it’s worth a shot. Hensley says that in addition to checking news sites, he always checks his personal Twitter feed - @scotthensley - as well as the NPR’s Twitter feed - @NPRhealth - to see what’s going on in the Twittersphere.
Ivan Oransky, treasurer of AHCJ’s board of directors, is the executive editor of Reuters Health and blogger for Retraction Watch and Embargo Watch. He joined the blogosphere in 2006 for The Scientist. Oransky says that search engine optimization (SEO) is key for any blogger. If you have a subject you are covering, be sure to use key words that will attract people.
“SEO, to me, means using key words where people that were interested in that subject would want to read about,” Oransky said.
Adding context to embargo-driven journalism
Over at the Nieman Journalism Lab, Matthew Battles latches onto John Rennie’s column about the future of science journalism, then talks to Ed Yong and AHCJ’s own treasurer, Ivan Oransky, M.D., about embargoes, timelines and cutting through the noise.
Battles focuses on the effort to pursue context in a profession that is so often at the mercy of academic journals. After all, as he writes in his introduction, “The events that science journalists publish about most frequently are themselves acts of publishing: the appearance of research papers in peer-reviewed journals.” The rest of his piece will serve as a handy primer for anyone looking to understand why that particular state of affairs is so pervasive and persistent.
For AHCJ members who want to know more about responsibly covering studies and how to recognize and report the problems, limitations and backstory of a study, as well as publication biases in medical journals, be sure to see “Covering Medical Research.”
Exploring ethics, standards in science blogging
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health journalism
As a follow up to ScienceOnline 2011, independent journalist Maryn McKenna writes about bringing the standards of journalism to blogging.
Maryn McKenna
At the annual meeting that brings together scientists, journalists, bloggers and others interested in communicating about science, McKenna took part in a discussion about ethics and credibility.
Regular readers of Covering Health will remember last year’s ScienceBlogs controversy as well as health journalist Mary Knudson’s decision to not blog for U.S. News & World Report when she noticed her first post had been studded with sponsored hyperlinks.
McKenna, who is a member of AHCJ’s board of directors, outlines how she has brought her own “best practices” to blogging and outlines them. She also highlights several points from AHCJ’s statement of principles that specifically deal with issues medical and science writers face.
Of course, as some people at the meeting noted, not everyone who blogs is – or wants to be – a journalist. But many of them do see the need for standards and transparency, as science writer Ed Yong points out. Science journalist Dave Mosher, of Wired.com, also explores the topic.
Rules for journalists reporting on genetics
It appears that University of Minnesota biologist and blogger PZ Myers has finally seen a few too many “x gene linked to y condition” stories. He snapped, writing that “I just get so annoyed at this tendency for the media to focus on simplistic discrete causes that are split into a black & white nature or nurture false dichotomy.” He also felt compelled to write a few rules for journalists, as scientist-bloggers so often do.
Two of the four rules cover subjects which should be old hat for most AHCJ members, namely “understand science and causality” and “put news and numbers in context,” and it’s not until he focuses specifically on genetics that the list really shines.
For the first rule, he uses a story headlined “Male infertility gene discovered” as a teaching example. The emphasis is mine.
Do not describe genes by the disease they cause when broken. This is a gene that contributes to male fertility. There is no infertility gene. If a man has a missing, damaged, or mutant form of this fertility gene, he may have problems conceiving children.
And, for the final rule, he builds on the basic, well-trod ideas of causality and context to provide a framework for interpreting gene discovery stories.
Learn this simple principle: genes affect how your body responds to environmental factors. Finding an allele associated with a particular physiological state does not mean you have described a cause. We also need to know how that gene acts, what triggers a particular pattern of expression, and what the gene changes in the cell. There are forms of genes that only have deleterious (or advantageous) effects given certain conditions; that effect must be described as a consequence of both the gene and a certain background or environment.
Scienceblogs, and when bloggers attack
The Next Web’s Simon Owens tries to put the recent ScienceBlogs / PepsiCo quagmire into the larger context of the long, proud history bloggers have of biting the hand that feeds. He looks into the uneasy relationship bloggers have always had with those who advertise in their space, as well as the risks bloggers face in giving up control over ad placement by joining larger networks like ScienceBlogs. In the end, he implies, it’s really just another installment in the ongoing horse race between editorial independence and financial viability.
It has always been the accepted practice that there should be an unassailable wall between the editorial side of a publication and the advertising side, lest reporters be accused of bias for financial reasons. But the idea of bloggers attacking or commenting on their own advertising can also create an aura of independence. After all, what better way to prove you’re not beholden to the hand that feeds you than opening your mouth wide and clamping your incisors down on it. Whether that same hand will continue to feed you afterward is another issue entirely.
Network promises ESPN-style surgery coverage
MDiTV, a new online network with several AHCJ members on its roster, has been in the works for a while and officially launched on April 28.
It aims to provide high production value, TV-style medical news segments each day, as well as more in-depth offerings. In addition to its video-heavy main site, MDiTV also has a regularly updated blog. AHCJ board member Andrew Holtz is the site’s senior editor and chief anchor, and AHCJ members Michael Ingram, Tim Park and Amira Dughri are also part of the effort.
Ben Comer of Medical Marketing & Media profiled the new organization.
The network will also present long-format programming, such as the Charlie Rose-inspired “Second Opinion” program, hosted by MDiTV founder and CEO Robert Lazzara, a cardiac surgeon. “Natural Forces,” a weekly health program hosted by Kelly Godell, will cover nutrition, food and healthy eating.
MDiTV will also add slightly less traditional programming, including events which sound like they’ve been inspired by a mix of CSPAN and ESPN.
MDiTV also hopes to premiere live surgeries through partnerships with “founding member hospitals,” and will broadcast medical meetings live, according to Lazzara. Surgeries and medical meetings will be presented in a way similar to how ESPN presents a sporting event, said Lazzara.
Lazzara told Comer the site would add advertising (likely broadcast-style commercials) within 60 days, but that they were currently focused on creating original content. Lazzara said he plans to market the station to patients and providers using a combination of traditional and social media.
Majority of bloggers call themselves journalists
On his Journalistics blog, Jeremy Porter assessed a recent PRWeek/PR Newswire survey on blogging and online journalism. Attitudes in both arenas are shifting fast, and this year’s results are markedly different than 2009’s. The highlight is that 52 percent of bloggers now consider themselves journalists. It’s not clear whether that’s because more traditional journalists have blogs or because bloggers are wielding more influence and becoming more established.
Porter tried to tease out what made the two identities different.
… 91 percent of bloggers use blogs and social networks “always” or “sometimes” for research (compared to 35 percent for newspapers). Put differently, most blogs rely on other bloggers — and anybody they find on social networks — as sources. This is part of the reason accurate and misinformation spreads quickly online — many bloggers copy each other.
…
Talking specifics, the study found that 64 percent of bloggers and 36 percent of online reporters use Twitter as a research tool for stories, but only 19 percent of newspaper reporters and 17 percent of print magazine reporters use this social medium as a research. Does this signal a lack of sophistication and comfort with social media among traditional journalists, or do they know something bloggers don’t, like the best sources aren’t found in a sea of tweets? It’s probably a mixture of both.
And here’s a quick summary of the more interesting survey results. Sentences have been edited for brevity and coherence, but most of it is taken directly from the press release.
- Over 70% of respondents in this year’s survey indicate a heavier workload as compared to last.
- 62% are required to write for online news sections, with 39% contributing to their publication’s blog.
- 37% of U.S. journalists also now must maintain a Twitter feed.
- 31% of respondents indicated that “staff cuts/layoffs” most affected their jobs over the past three years,significantly higher than 2009 (22%).
- When asked if building a personal brand was a consideration in their work, the majority of U.S. (52%) media (60%) responded either “extremely important” or “important.”
- Only 20% of bloggers derive the majority of their income from their blog work; a 4% increase from 2009.
- While 91% of bloggers and 68% of online reporters “always” or “sometimes” use blogs for research, only 35% of newspaper and 38% of print magazine journalists suggested the same.
- Overall, 33% of respondents indicated using social networks for research, but blogger usage (48%) was greater than newspaper (31%) and print magazine (27%).
- PR professionals still consider e-mail to be the most effective means for pitching journalists (74%), 43% of journalists report having being pitched through social networks compared to 31% in 2009.
Columnist blogs about her breast cancer
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
NJ.com columnist Kathleen O’Brien has been blogging her breast cancer treatment experience from the beginning.
O’Brien’s posts address a mixture of big-picture issues (like avoiding a negative perspective and whether or not to participate in a clinical trial) and illuminating little anecdotes that show the subtle changes in daily life that accompany a cancer diagnosis and impending treatment (like saying goodbye to the hairdresser she won’t need now that she’s going to start chemotherapy). Her writing helps the reader gain a better understanding of the emotional and physical roller coaster upon which cancer patients are trapped.
Trib’s Triage blog ends, Graham goes investigative
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
The Chicago Tribune’s Triage blog has closed its doors and Judy Graham – the face of the blog for the past year – has moved on to the paper’s investigative and watchdog team.
Graham will still find time twice a month to write the sort of stories Triage writers have come to know; fans will be able to find them in the pages of the Chicago Tribune’s Sunday section and in other Tribune papers.
Plain Dealer adds ‘price compare’ feature
Filed under: Health journalism, Hot Health Headline
Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Sarah Jane Tribble recently announced a new feature for the paper’s health and fitness blog. Every week, Plain Dealer reporters will comparison shop for a medical treatment, then post a selection of area prices on the blog. 
Tribble said she hopes to empower consumers by showing them just how much prices can vary and enabling them to make more informed health care spending decisions. She invites suggestions from readers and will post prices based cash payments, without assistance from insurance. Tribble will find the prices in public databases, or by calling or visiting area medical providers.
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- Numbers reveal how often, or how rarely, states check doctors’ disciplinary records
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- Transparency & medical errors: Public reporting of patient harm is a potent force
