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Journalism fellowship and funding for special projects are opportunities to go beyond daily reporting and to have support and money to dig deeper into issues including environmental health.
Each year there are increasingly more fellowships and grants for extensive reporting, especially as newsrooms shrink and outlets close. Many are focused on climate change or public health while others are open to significant ideas including environmental health.
Erin Brodwin
Erin Brodwin is a San Francisco-based health tech reporter at STAT. Since 2019, she’s covered artificial intelligence in health care, written breaking news about health tech companies and covered wearable technologies and their impact on digital health. Her recent stories include a profile of the first chief medical officer of a maternal and family virtual care platform called Maven Clinic and an article about Apple’s new features for sharing health data with doctors and tracking trends. She also is one of four co-authors of STAT’s free biweekly Health Tech electronic newsletter. Previously, Erin covered health tech for Business Insider.
I interviewed Erin recently about some of the trends in health tech and her advice to AHCJ members looking to break into this space. She advises us to think about whom tech innovation benefits or harms, its significance more broadly and whether something billed as innovative truly is. (Responses have been lightly edited and condensed.) Continue reading
Photo: Petra Wessman ia Flickr
Before the pandemic, National Public Radio reporter Alex Smith conducted most of his interviews in person.
But as the pandemic limited his access to people, he turned to other sources for story ideas and research – public health data and social media.
“I turned into this data journalist, which was an eye-opening experience,” said Smith, who was the second-place winner for beat reporting in the 2020 Excellence in Health Journalism Awards. “I enjoyed it more than I expected. I got a new appreciation for data journalism.” Continue reading
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News organizations continue to grapple with ways to include in their stories more COVID-19 experts from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.
Last year, AHCJ highlighted groups that have created databases in recent years to encourage reporters to extend their perspectives and typical networks. For specific COVID-19 experts, here are a few more places to look. Continue reading
There have been a number of stories in the past few weeks about people who became infected with COVID-19, even after they have been fully vaccinated. Data on “breakthrough infections” are important because it indicates to public health officials how effectively the vaccines are working, including how well they block transmission and if and when booster shots may become necessary.
But without full context, these stories also risk amplifying the perception that the risk of getting sick is still high, even if you are vaccinated. Continue reading
