Health care reporting among SABEW winners
Health care reporting fared well in this year’s Society of American Business Editors and Writers Best in Business Writing competition as the business of health care took center stage in many publications and earned awards for both breaking news and in-depth packages. The health-related winners:
Breaking news
Real-time News Organizations
- Dow Jones Newswires: “Deep Coverage On Drug Deal”
- Reuters: “H1N1 Flu: The Global Story”
Enterprise
Small Publications
- Sarasota Herald-Tribune: “Contaminated Chinese drywall”
Weekly Publications
- Pittsburgh Business Times: “Eli Lilly details payments to docs”
Projects
Giant Publications
- The New York Times: “Toxic Waters”
Large Publications
- Dallas Morning News: “The Cost of Care”
Magazine Enterprise
Small
- Bloomberg Markets: “Big Pharma’s Crime Spree”
Oransky: Find sources with outside perspective
AHCJ Treasurer Ivan Oransky, M.D., who’s also the executive editor of Reuters Health and a teacher at NYU, stopped by Ed Yong’s “Not Exactly Rocket Science” blog to offer his tips for finding sources when reporting on studies.
Oransky writes that the key is to focus on a source that provides outside perspective, not just on a source that provides an opposing viewpoint. Sometimes, Oransky says, that outside perspective will simply reinforce what the study’s authors have said. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
He also gives practical directions for finding knowledgeable sources, with specific suggestions both for reporters on deadline and for those who have the luxury of reporting things out a little.
Ghostwriting: Journals’ dirty, not-so-little secret
Filed under: Conflicts of interest, Health data, Health journalism, Hot Health Headline, Studies
The New York Times‘ Duff Wilson and Natasha Singer reported the results of a Journal of the American Medical Association study showing that, in an anonymous survey of contributors to six major medical journals, 7.8 percent “acknowledged contributions to their articles by people whose work should have qualified them to be named as authors on the papers but who were not listed.”
Reuters Health’s Brendan Borrell describes the lengths one editor goes to when trying to track down ghostwriters and disclose them in his journal’s articles.
Meanwhile, an editorial in the nonprofit open-access Public Library of Science’s PLoS Medicine calls upon journals to “get serious” in the war against ghostwriting.
Oransky to take helm at Reuters Health
Filed under: Health journalism, Health policy, Member news
AHCJ board member Ivan Oransky, M.D., has been named executive editor of Reuters Health. He assumes RH’s top editorial job from Bob Saunders, who is retiring. Oransky leaves the position of managing editor for online at Scientific American.
Ivan Oransky, M.D.
Oransky, first elected to the AHCJ board in 2002, will remain in New York for the new job, which he starts on June 15.
“Joining Reuters Health is a great opportunity to lead a talented team that has built a highly authoritative, comprehensive and successful news service over the years,” Oransky says. “I look forward to even more success by bringing newly available technology to bear.”
“I’ve known Bob and the team, and the work they do, for almost a decade, so it will be a real pleasure to work with them at 3 Times Square.”
Oransky has helped lead AHCJ’s efforts to build a new Web site with resources for its members that debuted in July 2007 and he has continued to advise the organization on how to increase its online presence.
Traffic to Scientific American’s Web site has increased 50 percent since Oransky’s arrival, something he attributes to his staff’s efforts, including posting more items, becoming more news cycle-driven , adding more regular features and using social media, such as Twitter, to connect with readers. MinOnline.com recently cited the site as one of three science-related titles to have fared well in the past year.
Oransky also teaches medical journalism in New York University’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting program and at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism and is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine, where he received his medical degree.
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Health Journalism 2010, AHCJ's annual conference, features a world-class program with story ideas, sources, stronger reporting skills, chances to meet newsmakers and network with other journalists.
- Health and education: Covering these intersecting beats
- Reporting on the business of health care
- Health reporting resources for journalists on state and local government beats
- Shortened Lives: How location, lifestyle affect health
- Covering a complex story for the long haul
- Aging in the 21st Century: Presentations and tip sheets
- AHCJ calls for better information from Joint Commission Web site
