Health journalism degree programs provide new pathway into field

By Rebecca Jungbauer
From the Spring 2007 issue of HealthBeat

Medical and health information is complicated to understand, and even more so to report. With shrinking newsrooms and fewer specialized beats, the role of a health reporter becomes more critical.

To address these changes, several colleges have begun offering medical journalism programs to improve the quality of health writing and reporting. The University of North Carolina, University of Minnesota, New York University and Boston University offer medical journalism degrees, though titles vary. Other schools, such as the University of Georgia, City University of New York and New York University, offer courses for students who wish to specialize in health journalism. Still others, such as the Missouri School of Journalism, where AHCJ is based, are looking at increasing specialty offerings.

The days of learning about health on the job "are pretty much gone" says Dr. Tom Linden, director of the medical journalism program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. New reporters looking to break into the field should have leverage with the medical journalism degree, he says. "It's hard to compete with someone who has a degree."

Veteran reporters are joining fledgling journalists at academic institutions around the country, gaining multimedia skills and exploring the health field in depth.

"The program gives you a chance to think about covering health and understanding it instead of just writing the story," says Toya Stewart, a graduate student in the University of Minnesota's Health Journalism program and a former reporter for The Dallas Morning News.

In its first four years, the Minnesota program admitted 47 students, making it the largest medical journalism program in the country. About 30 still have some work to do to complete their programs – many of them just lacking a capstone project, which takes the place of a traditional master's thesis.

The Minnesota program is suspending admissions for the 2007-08 school year to allow the program to make some changes. "Our program is four years old and, like any new product, needs some adjustments, some of which are difficult to make on the fly," says Gary Schwitzer, director of graduate studies. The program plans to admit a new class in fall 2008.

The new program may offer two tracks: health journalism and health communication. Schwitzer will head the health journalism revision. Health communication courses typically target students pursuing public relations or public agency work.

Twelve students have graduated from the UNC medical journalism program, which began in 2000. Three more students are scheduled to graduate in May and there are seven master's students enrolled in the graduate program.

NYU's Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program was known as SERP until last year, when the H was added to recognize how important health is in the curriculum. It also expanded the medical reporting program. Since its founding in 1982, SHERP has produced more than 250 graduates who hold positions in print, television, radio and Web journalism in the United States and more than 20 other countries. Students completing the 16-month program receive a master of arts in journalism and an advanced certificate in science, health and environmental reporting.

About 150 students have graduated from Boston University's Center for Science and Medical Journalism since the medical component was added to the program about a decade ago. About 10 to 20 students are enrolled in the program each year.

"Taking the time out in class to absorb the information was really beneficial," says Laura Kruse, a graduate of Minnesota's program and a health content producer at Internet Broadcast Systems in Minneapolis.

Kruse remembers attending a seminar on stem cell research just before the South Korean scientists announced their findings in 2004. "We would have discussions and actually apply the principles in class to stories I was writing. It helped my news judgment," Kruse said.

Women tend to dominate enrollment at North Carolina and Minnesota – 88 percent of current and former Minnesota students are women. Many come with science or health backgrounds, and 60 percent of Minnesota students have previous journalism experience. Almost half of the students have advanced degrees in areas such as public health and medicine.

Marco Yzer, an assistant professor at Minnesota, says collaboration is one of the key benefits of the health journalism program. "Reporters will understand how their audience understands health."

How the future journalist will work is unknown, but specializing, even early in your career, can't hurt.

"Students become better specialist reporters in any beat with the skills they learn," Linden says.

Don Brazeal, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota's Health Journalism program, agrees. "It's useful to learn the process of how to do research in a specialized area." Although there is a prejudice in journalism toward learning by doing, Brazeal says, health is such an important topic that it's worth spending the time.

In the converging media world, Brazeal says, job availability is pretty uncertain.

Students receive valuable networking experience and a critical skill set, so "even though the market is tightening, there's not a graduate that hasn't gotten a job," Linden says of the North Carolina program.

Graduates are working in Web, print, academia, hospitals.

The increase in non-traditional media, such as personal patient blogs, has dramatically increased the number of sources for health information. This puts pressure on reporters to accurately report health news, and highlights the importance of merging communication and an understanding of health concepts.

Yzer says while journalism schools can produce good writers, specifically training reporters in health domains will help them write more effectively in their field.

Attending a health journalism program, Yzer says, is "a golden mix of real life with a more informed understanding of how audiences engage health information."

Rebecca Jungbauer is a graduate student in the University of Minnesota medical journalism program and a research assistant for HealthNewsReview.org. She received a degree in biology from St. Mary's University in Minnesota in 2002.