Covering Obesity:
A Guide for Reporters
The prospect of covering such a broad, engaging and important topic can be overwhelming. This guide is designed to help journalists cover a wide range of stories, whether writing on deadline or researching a multipart series.
Packed with story ideas, the guide offers assistance on calculating body mass index, finding obesity statistics on the state level, gauging the quality of school district wellness policies, finding innovative school nutrition policies and much more.
November is National Diabetes Awareness Month and Nov. 14 is World Diabetes Day. Learn more about diabetes and perhaps find some story ideas in presentations at AHCJ conferences and workshops.
Tip sheets
The health of America’s minority populations – This presentation by Kimlin Tam Ashing-Giwa, Ph.D., professor and director, City of Hope Center of Community Alliance for Research and Education, includes statistics on mortality rates by race and prevalence of diabetes and cancer among minority populations.
Diabetes in the South Bronx – Germaine Desjarlais-O'Kane, R.N., C.D.E., a diabetes educator at the All Med Clinic in the Bronx focuses on the eating habits and lifestyles of minorities living in the Bronx with diabetes.
Diabetes in NYC – Lorna Thorpe, Ph.D., M.P.H., deputy commissioner of the New York City Health Department offers surveillance and epidemiologic findings, including statistics for diabetes in New York City and the rest of the country.
Type 2 diabetes – Richard Perez-Pena, a reporter for The New York Times, speaks about type 2 diabetes and what journalists need to know when reporting on diabetes.
Articles
Diabetes' impact felt throughout U.S. society – This in-depth multimedia package produced by The Palm Beach Post shows the impact of diabetes in the United States. It includes sections about diabetes in children, how an increase in diabetes is affecting business in disease management, and solutions for prevention and living with diabetes. According to an article by Phil Galewitz, nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes. That's double the number of patients since 1980, and experts expect that number to double again by 2050.
