Where health and journalism education meet
Writing for U.S. News and World Report, Menachem Wecker examines the proliferation of health-focused programs at journalism schools across the country, many of which are affiliated with medical schools and/or medical institutions, and how they may or may not benefit both journalists and health professionals.
This recent influx of programs has raised questions from journalists and doctors about the degree to which the collaborations benefit medical and journalism students. Some say that M.D.’s can help journalists better understand the health beat, while others prescribe a “healthy ignorance,” rather than medical school credentials, to reporters. Others say that aspiring physicians can improve their bedside interactions with and empathy for patients by studying journalism.
Wecker writes that while, according to AHCJ treasurer and Reuters Health executive editor Ivan Oransky, M.D., a medical degree appears to have become almost a requirement for broadcast health journalists, there are big-picture views and tools of the trade that those with an exclusively medical education may struggle with. Here, Wecker quotes former AHCJ board member Andrew Holtz, M.P.H.:
“I often compare asking a doctor about health policy to asking an auto mechanic about transportation policy. Maybe they have something useful to say, but it is generally not from what they learned in their training program,” he says.
Peter Fiske, author of the recent article “Unleash Your Inner Dummy” on the website of the journal Nature, says a reporter with less health expertise may find it easier to connect with readers despite the increasing complexity of the medical field.
And, given the difficulty of explaining health to a lay audience, the exchange goes both ways, Wecker writes. Several of his sources, journalists and medical professionals alike, suggested that it might not hurt physicians to improve their communication skills and media savvy.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed Fiske’s comments to Holtz. We apologize for the error.
AHCJ members tackle job changes, book publishing and earn awards
Health journalists have been busy, with a number of job changes, awards and new books out. Here’s the latest news about AHCJ members:
Lominda Afedraru won an award in science reporting in the print category from the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.
Bianca Alexander was nominated for a Chicago/Midwest Emmy for “Outstanding On-Camera Performance” for the show “Soul of Green,” about entrepreneurs of color in the green and holistic health movement in Chicago.
Mark Andersen has been named an assistant city editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. Anderson is a member of the inaugural class of AHCJ Regional Health Journalism Program Fellows and expects to continue to be involved in the paper’s coverage of health care.
Jeff Baillon, an investigative reporter for KMSP-Minneapolis/St. Paul received an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy Award in September for Investigative Reporting. The series of reports, “Dead Wrong?” (Part 1 | Part 2) revealed serious mistakes made by a Twin Cities medical examiner whose findings lacked sound science but nevertheless were the primary evidence used in several murder convictions.
Amrit Banstola has been chosen as a “Youth Leader Speak Column Writer” from Nepal for Climate Himalaya, an India-based organization that works for climate change.
Bob Barrett, producer of “The Health Show” for WAMC/Northeast Public Radio, will host a second nationally syndicated public radio program. “The Best of Our Knowledge,” about education, is heard on almost 150 radio stations in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, as well as Armed Forces Radio around the world.
Blythe Bernhard and Jeremy Kohler of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were named “top reporters” in the Riverfront Times’ Best of St. Louis awards and their work was tapped for a Lee Enterprises’ President’s Award, recognizing outstanding journalism from the company’s 48 newspapers. The two were honored for their investigative series, “Who Protects the Patients?” which exposed Missouri’s lax and secretive system of doctor discipline. The reporting team previously won the APME Missouri sweepstakes award and Bernhard was recently honored with a Missouri Public Health Association media award for significant contributions to health education in the state.
Rachel Boehm is now a reporter for the Bureau of National Affairs’ Daily Tax Report covering the Internal Revenue Service.
At a National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder conference in November, Kevin Dawkins presented preliminary date from a recently completed randomized controlled trial of a documentary series on borderline personality disorder. The series targeted families who have a member diagnosed with BPD and presented the experiences of four individuals and their families with commentary provided by researchers and clinicians.
The latest book from Nicholas DiNubile, M.D., “FrameWork for the Shoulder“ has been released. It is the third installment in the FrameWork “Active for Life” series geared toward keeping individuals active for life, especially those with musculoskeletal ailments.
M.J. Ellington will do freelance health journalism in addition to her new position as health policy analyst for Alabama Arise, a statewide advocacy organization for the poor. Previously, Ellington covered state government and politics as capital bureau chief for The Decatur Daily and the Florence Times Daily newspapers.
Bob Finn is the assistant managing editor at Medscape Medical News where, among other things, he works with freelancers, assigning and editing stories based on medical journal articles. Finn was with the International Medical News Group for 10 years, first as San Francisco bureau chief and then as social media and web content editor. He’ll continue working from home, which he’s done for the past 19 years.
Joe Goldeen, health care reporter at The (Stockton, Calif.) Record, received the President’s Award from Healings in Motion. Mary Nicholson, of Healings in Motion, said, “Goldeen has been a beacon for those enduring challenges from an illness. Through his stories and blog, Joe shares credible resources and a calendar of events related to health and health care in San Joaquin County.”
Independent journalist Samantha Gluck is a contributing author for HealthyPlace.com, a mental health resource for patients and mental health professionals.
“Top Screwups Doctors Make And how to Avoid Them,” by Joe Graedon and Teresa Graedon, was published by Crown Archtype.
Shuka Kalantari is a member of the 2011 New America Media Fellowship Program on Health, Health Care and Environmental Health. She will produce a radio story about PTSD among Middle Eastern refugees in California.
Jonathan Michels recently wrapped up a short documentary about healthy food access in Candor, N.C. The film was made with a grant from Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities and FirstHealth of the Carolinas.
Gary Schwitzer, publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, presented his project’s findings to an International Biomedical Journalism Symposium at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona in September. He also helped plan a National Cancer Institute workshop for Latin American journalists in Guadalajara and spoke in four sessions at the November event. Stateside, he was a speaker at a National Breast Cancer Coalition media workshop in New York City in September.
Andrew Seaman is a medical journalist with Reuters Health, where his main focus is on the division’s Web page, and he will be reporting. Seaman finished the Kaiser Family Foundation’s media internship in August at Reuters’s Washington Bureau, where he covered the Affordable Care Act and general health policy.
Elizabeth Stawicki, J.D., health care reform correspondent for Minnesota Public Radio, is working on an initiative between NPR/Minnesota Public Radio/Kaiser Health News.
Stephanie Stephens has launched www.MindYourBody.tv for female baby boomers. Stephens is host, writer and executive producer, using expert resources from Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. Topics are presented with a video/audio podcast and blog, and focus on mind, body, nutrition, healthy travel, beauty, caregiving and other boomer-centric topics.
Judy Stone, M.D., is a guest blogger for Scientific American. The column started with “Molecules to Medicine: Clinical Trials for Beginners” in October.
Liz Szabo, of USA Today, won the Excellence in Media Award from the Campaign for Public Health Foundation.
Jessica Wapner will be a fellow at the Medical Evidence Boot Camp offered by Knight Science Journalism in December.
Share your news
If you have news to share about a new job, fellowship, award or other accomplishment, please send us a note about it to info@healthjournalism.org to be featured in a future Covering Health post and in HealthBeat, AHCJ’s printed newsletter.
Public hospitals, not nonprofits, shoulder burden of charity care
Filed under: Health data, Health journalism, Hospitals, Hot Health Headline, Member news, Public records
Writing in the Contra Costa Times, Sandy Kleffman reports that while nonprofit hospitals in the East Bay are given millions in tax breaks, “The responsibility of caring for the indigent falls largely on the region’s public hospitals.”
Kleffman’s findings are based on her analysis of publicly available California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development reports, documents which she learned to access and process at a September webinar led by AHCJ board president and ProPublica senior reporter Charles Ornstein.
Her analysis revealed a substantial imbalance in the numbers, especially between public hospitals and nonprofits. For example, Contra Costa’s county hospital provided more than three quarters of the total amount of charity care given in the country in 2010, while the six nonprofits together accounted for just under 23 percent.
For their part, representatives of nonprofit hospitals protested that the numbers do not take into account the other community benefits they provide, nor are they adjusted to compensate for the differences in demographics across each institution’s patient pool.
For more on what went into Kleffman’s report, see her sidebar on “How we made comparisons.”
Promotion, new job and a fellowship for AHCJ members
Marilynn Marchione has been named chief medical writer for The Associated Press. In a press release, the AP says “She regularly produces some of our most high-impact enterprise, demystifies complicated medical studies, and mentors other writers.” The release says she will “play a larger role in working with regional desks worldwide to help them shape smart ideas as the AP strives to build an even greater distinctive presence in health coverage” and encourages its reporters to use her as as resource if they “have the seed of an idea for a health story or who need guidance in deciphering medical jargon.”
Dave Parks has been named editor of Cahaba Media Group’s HomeCare. Parks has been working as an independent journalist, recently publishing “Health Care Reform Simplified.” Before that, he was the senior health reporter for The Birmingham News for 22 years and worked as the health section editor at CNN.com.
Rochelle Sharpe has been selected for the MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellows Program. The program, a collaboration of the Gerontological Society of America and New America Media in conjunction with the Journalists Network on Generations, convenes the fellows at the GSA’s annual meeting where they tap into the presentations to develop a major aging-focused story or series. Sharpe, a Boston-based independent journalist, will investigate declining life expectancy for women in some low-income U.S. regions. Sharpe, who shared a 1991 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and has written for The Boston Globe, Business Week and many other publications.
Health stories win at ONA for investigations, multimedia
The Online News Association has honored two of this year’s bumper crop of excellent health pieces with top honors in their respective categories at the 2011 Online Journalism Awards, with nods going to pioneering work by both ProPublica and The Washington Post.
For ProPublica, AHCJ member Robin Field’s examination of the nation’s Medicare-funded dialysis system and what this oft-overlooked federal budget item tells us about the implementation of “socialized medicine” in America earned the Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism in the Small Site category. Since its publication, Fields’ award-winning piece has continued to evolve, adding data and updates as they become available.
Also nominated in the category were ProPublica’s Dollars for Docs and Investigative West’s Livesaving Drugs, Deadly Consequences.
The other prominent health winner was The Washington Post’s video-heavy “Traumatic Brain Injury: Coming home a different person,” which beat out another multimedia piece, the Los Angeles Times‘ Dylan’s Brain, in the large site category of the Multimedia Feature Presentation award.
Earlier: Health journalists poised for strong showing at 2011 ONA Awards
AHCJ members win recognition for their work
André Picard was among a group of journalists recognized by the Canadian Medical Association for The (Toronto) Globe and Mail’s series “Dementia: Confronting the Crisis.” The project won a 2011 Media Award for Health Reporting in the “Excellence in Print Reporting/In-depth feature series” category.
Paul Raeburn has received the James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry to the Public from the American Chemical Society. The award cites Raeburn’s work as science editor and chief science correspondent at the Associated Press from 1981 to 1996, where thousands of his articles were distributed to more than 1,700 newspapers and 6,000 television and radio stations worldwide. Raeburn writes about science coverage for the Knight Science Journalism Tracker and is an independent journalist and author.
Liz Seegert was named a senior fellow with the Center for Health, Media and Policy at Hunter College, City University of New York. She is working with AHCJ members Barbara Glickstein and Diana Mason, among others, on initiatives to improve public health through media, education and public forums.
Ron Winslow, the deputy bureau chief for health and science and a veteran medical reporter at The Wall Street Journal, was awarded the 2011 Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting from the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Winslow was cited for the “exceptional breadth, precision and clarity of his coverage about how technological innovation is transforming the world of medicine.”
AHCJ members tackle job changes, book publishing and earn awards
Health journalists have been busy, with a number of job changes, awards and new books out. Here’s the latest news about AHCJ members:
MILESTONES
Conscious Living TV recently launched its latest media platform: taxi screens in New York City, Chicago, Boston and Seattle. Bianca Alexander is a correspondent/executive producer of the news show about the eco-movement.
Joe Carlson (@MHJCarlson) has a new beat covering legal affairs for Modern Healthcare magazine. He received the print journalism award this summer for best story in trade-circulation category from the National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation for his 2010 story, “Bad for Business.”
Bob Mitchell has been named editor at CMIO Magazine, based in Providence, R.I. The online and print publication reaches chief medical information officers.
The Oakland Tribune ran Beatrice Motamedi’s three-part series on inner-city teens and stress, called “The Long Arm of Childhood,” on the front page for three days in May and June. The series was a project of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships at USC/Annenberg.
Following the terrorist attacks in 2011, PJ Noonan found families who had babies born on Sept. 11, 2001, and told the stories of six of them in USA Weekend. For the 10th anniversary, Noonan located the six children and their parents for a feature in the Sept. 11, 2011, issue of USA Weekend.
Marie Powers has joined BioWorld Today as a staff writer. With 15 years on the health care beat, Powers will cover breaking news on public and private companies for the biotechnology industry’s daily newspaper and contribute to affiliated reports.
Jennifer Ringler has started the master of science in health communication program at Boston University. She is the volunteer associate director, grants and media relations, for the International Cancer Advocacy Network.
HealthNewsReview.org publisher Gary Schwitzer, who is a member of the FDA’s Risk Communication Advisory Committee, contributed a chapter on health care journalism to the FDA’s new “Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User’s Guide.” Australian journalist Melissa Sweet has written a review of the guide.
AWARDS
Health columnist LJ Anderson won second place for her Palo Alto Daily News’ feature columns in the 2011 Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards, sponsored by the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club.
WebMD’s Daniel J. DeNoon, senior medical writer, Laura J. Martin, M.D., and Sean Swint, executive editor, won a 2010 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Online Deadline Reporting (Affiliated) for “Gene Test, Preventive Surgery Save Women’s Lives.”
Steven Kussin, M.D., has opened a community-based, non-academic Shared Decision Center. His book, “Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now” was published on Aug. 28.
Maryn McKenna, an independent journalist and an AHCJ board member, won a 2011 Science in Society Journalism Award, sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers, for her book “Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA” (Free Press).
Jennifer Meckles, who recently began a job at WBIR-Knoxville, Tenn., as a multimedia journalist, won a Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional journalists in the Television News General Reporting category for “New Signs for Boomer Eyes,” a piece about the government changing road sign policies due to the failing eyesight of the Baby Boomer generation. She was a finalist in the Television News In-Depth Reporting category for “Target 8: Fulton Hospital,” an investigation into a maximum security Missouri prison and mental rehabilitation center.
HealthSource and Florida Doctor - North magazines, published by Beson4 Media Group, were honored by the Florida Magazine Association. HealthSource received a Charlie Award for Writing Excellence in Best Service Coverage for its November 2010 diabetes issue. Florida Doctor - North received a Bronze Award for General Excellence in Best Overall Magazine/Trade/Technical for its August 2010, January 2011 and February 2011 issues. Vanessa Wells is the editor at Beson4 Media Group.
BOOKS PUBLISHED
William “Lee” Dubois‘ book, “Diabetes Warrior: Be your own knight in shining armor. How to stay healthy and happy with diabetes,” has been published.
John Hacker, managing editor at The Carthage (Mo.) Press, and Randy Turner have written “5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado.” It is Hacker’s story about covering the tornado, along with stories from other survivors and obituaries for the 160 people who died.
Harriet Hodgson, B.S., M.A., an independent journalist based in Rochester, Minn., has just had her 29th and 30th books published. “Happy Again! Your New and Meaningful Life After Loss” was published by Centering Corporation in Omaha. “Real Meals on 18 Wheels: A Guide for Healthy Living on the Highway,” is a nutrition book for truckers written with Kathryn Clements, R.D. The seed money for the project came from a major trucking company and the pair self-published it using CreateSpace.
Dave Parks, a freelance journalist in Birmingham, Ala., has just authored a book published through Apress, “Health Care Reform Simplified.” It describes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, translating the law’s complex language into terms that are easy to understand. Parks blogs about health care reform.
“Launching Your Dietetics Career” (American Dietetic Association, 2011) is the sixth book written by D. Milton Stokes, M.P.H., R.D., C.D.N. It explains the pathway to becoming a registered dietitian and features more than a dozen interviews with professionals in the field. Stokes is working toward a doctorate degree in health communication from the University of Connecticut.
Groups push for transparency in Joint Commission’s hospital accreditation surveys
Filed under: Health data, Health journalism, Hospitals, Hot Health Headline, Public records, Studies
The Lexington Herald-Leader’s Jim Warren reports that about 50 advocacy groups, including the Consumers Union and Mothers against Medical Error, have joined forces to ask Congress to make the survey data behind hospital accreditation freely available to the public.
Their main target is The Joint Commission, a non-profit group that sets performance standards and is hired by hospitals and other health-care organizations to measure whether they meet those standards. In many states, Joint Commission accreditation is the basis for hospital licensure. It conducts extensive surveys every three years or so, and funds its efforts by charging hospitals upward of $45,000 for the privilege of being evaluated.
The Joint Commission’s disclosure practices last made headlines in January when, in response to pressure from AHCJ’s Right to Know Committee, it made accreditation information more readily available online.
For help finding and understanding Joint Commission reports and similar sources, AHCJ members can check out board president Charles Ornstein’s latest guide to Deciphering Hospital Quality Data, in which he addresses the strengths and weaknesses of myriad data sources and provides pointers on how to access and utilize them.
Health journalists poised for strong showing at 2011 ONA Awards
The 2011 finalists for the Online Journalism Awards were announced this week, and regular readers won’t be surprised to hear that health care journalists have made a strong showing. Health stories, sites and journalists are vying for honors in myriad categories, and that’s even before you start counting the health-heavy sites that are up for general awards. I’ve rounded up some of the most notable nominees below, as well as a few accounts to which you’re invited to direct your congratulatory tweets! The awards will be announced on Sept. 24, during ONA’s annual conference.
Knight Award for Public Service
Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Small Site
- Dialysis – ProPublica (@fieldsrobin)
- Dollars for Doctors – ProPublica (@charlesornstein, @tracyweber, @dancow)
- Lifesaving Drugs, Deadly Consequences — InvestigateWest (@invw)
Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism, Large Site
Multimedia Feature Presentation, Large Site
- Quieting Dylan’s Brain – Los Angeles Times (@mollyhf)
- Traumatic Brain Injury: Coming Home a Different Person – The Washington Post
Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Small Site
- Doctors Behaving Badly: Shedding Light on Poor Doctor Oversight by Medical Boards – William Heisel, ReportingonHealth.org (@wheisel)
AHCJ welcomes more new members
Please welcome AHCJ’s newest members. All new AHCJ members are welcome to stop by this post’s comment section to introduce themselves.
- David Freedman, independent journalist, Needham, Mass. (@dhfreedman)
- Janice Frey, independent journalist, Iowa City, Iowa
- Brande Martin, senior editor, Medscape Medical News, Chicago
- Jaya Shreedhar, independent journalist, Chennai, India
If you haven’t joined yet, see what member benefits you’re missing out on: Access to more than 50 journals and databases, tip sheets and articles from your colleagues on how they’ve reported stories, conferences, workshops, online training, reporting guides and more. Join AHCJ today to get a wealth of support and tools to help you.
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