- http://ksj.mit.edu/tracker/2012/12/pris-world-cancer-tragically-overlooked
- http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00021869.html
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20524606
Provide names of other journalists involved.
Nathalie Applewhite at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting backed us with financial support and critical logistical help. Dan McCarey created the interactive cancer map. Manya Gupta, Steven Davy, and Li Li managed the website. Oscar Durand, in Peru, provided video and still images for our multimedia piece about Victoria from Lima. Sean Gallagher provided images of tobacco’s ubiquitous presence in modern-day China for our other multimedia piece. Tori Starr, Angilee Shah, and Jonathan Kealing devised and implemented the social media strategy. Kim Ducharme and Zia Sobhani produced the infographics. Sonia Narang produced and edited our two multimedia pieces, she served as manager, organizer, taskmaster, and resident perfectionist in pulling everything together online.
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Dec. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, 2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
America has waged war on cancer for more than 40 years, but in developing countries the fight has barely begun. In this radio and online series, we meet patients, doctors, and public health advocates on the front lines. What political, cultural, and logistical obstacles make tackling cancer so difficult across most of the globe? Correspondent Joanne Silberner reports from Uganda, Haiti, and India on innovative programs that are improving cancer prevention, detection, and treatment.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Although the bulk of Silberner’s reporting involved on-the-ground interviews in developing countries, she gained context and background for her series from an extensive review of the scientific literature. Silberner read dozens of research papers in academic journals, and she pored over data sets from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the World Health Organization’s Globocan. In addition, Silberner and The World’s multimedia team culled statistics from those and other organizations, and she sought assistance from global health experts to track down statistics used in the creation of several infographics that accompanied the series.
No FOI requests were needed in the reporting of these stories.
Explain types of human sources used.
In the United States, Silberner spoke to several dozen doctors and scientists for background research and taped interviews. Her sources included scientists who study the epidemiology and treatment of cancer, experts on global health, representatives of organizations that fund health projects in developing countries, and clinicians who work in each of the areas she focused on: Burkitt’s Lymphoma, breast cancer, cervical cancer, infectious diseases, and palliative care. In Haiti, India, and Uganda, Silberner interviewed caregivers (doctors, nurses and pharmacists), government officials, and dozens of cancer patients.
Results:
An estimated 2.5 million radio listeners heard at least part of the series. The online audience, as we submit the entry, is over one million, and growing. For example, the main page for the series has received 48,739 unique page views to date.
The BBC, our programming partner, posted the series in its online news magazine:
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20524606
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20595131
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20595862
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20625482
On the BBC site, Joanne’s stories have received approximately 965,000 unique page views as of December 10, our last day of measurement. PBS NewsHour posted all of Joanne’s stories on its website. Here is the page for the first story in the series.
New America Media (NAM) posted stories from the series:
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/12/pink-ribbons-to-haiti.php
AllAfrica.com posted two of Silberner’s cancer stories from Uganda, along with the audio slideshow about Jackson Orem. Here’s the landing page; here are the story pages: http://allafrica.com/stories/201212211221.html and http://allafrica.com/stories/201212211190.html
The Knight Science Journalism Tracker highlighted the series for its audience. The World sponsored a Facebook chat in conjunction with the radio broadcast. More than 100 attendees posted more than 300 comments in the conversation, which included Dr. Eric Krakauer, palliative medicine, Harvard Medical School; Dr. Lucrecia Peinado, director of Cervical Cancer Initiative at UICC; Amy Banham, oncology program coordinator, Partners in Health; Dr. Corey Casper, director, Uganda Cancer Institute/Fred Hutchinson Center Cancer Alliance; Dr. Jackson Orem, Director, Uganda Cancer Institute; and Joanne Silberner.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
One listener challenged Silberner’s characterization of cervical cancer mortality in the United States. The challenge, and Silberner’s clarification, accompany the story online.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Joanne Silberner responds: “With any global health story, it’s important to look at what’s happening on the front lines. Check with medical providers to see if treatment is available. Talk to people with the disease to see if they know about treatment, whether they seek it, and whether they can afford it. What are the impediments to care? Stigma is a big issue in global health; is the disease you’re considering stigmatized? I was surprised to find that there are advocacy groups for people with cancer, and I found them a tremendous resource. One last word of advice — if you’re looking at a condition like cancer, where people are dying painful deaths, be aware in advance that it might hit you hard, maybe not when you’re reporting but when you get home. I found my first trip to a supermarket after I got back really disconcerting — I had seen people dying of treatable diseases because they couldn’t afford a bus ride, and there in front of me were about a dozen different kinds of graham crackers to choose from. The best thing to do with that discomfort is to not be ashamed (a tough exterior is not all it’s cracked up to be), and to talk to someone — your editor or a friend.”