- http://www.theshapewerein.wordpress.com
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNcS–BXjrY
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxU__7YlNxI
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEN991GRw2g
Provide names of other journalists involved.
Douglas Imbrogno, multimedia editor
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
The first story was published on Feb. 12, 2012. Fifty stories were published in 2012. The series will end in February 2013.
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Ned Chilton, late publisher of the Charleston Gazette, used to urge reporters to apply “sustained outrage” to subjects that threaten public well-being. Hit it from many angles, he said, till it becomes part of what people know. In 2012, in The Shape We’re In series, the Gazette applied his philosophy to West Virginia’s frightening chronic disease and obesity rates. We let readers know that:
* One in four West Virginia fifth-graders has high blood pressure and cholesterol. One in four is obese.
* One in three adult West Virginians is obese, at high risk of chronic disease.
* West Virginia is in the top three states in diabetes, stroke, heart attacks, obesity, early death and a wide range of other costly chronic diseases.
* Seven in 10 of West Virginia’s health dollars are already spent on chronic disease.
* Chronic disease costs will double in West Virginia within ten years if nothing changes, health economists warn.
* It doesn’t have to be that way. When this series began, there was little public awareness of these facts and little informed conversation about the subject. Reporter Kate Long assembled these facts. They underpin her series. Our aims:
* Create a statewide conversation about the medical risk of obesity through a combination of storytelling, solid research, and interviews with policymakers.
* Move that subject to the front burner and keep it there long enough to stir people up and get balls rolling.
* Use stories of real people who have successfully tackled these problems to create a statewide feeling that we can get a grip on this epidemic.
* Use stories about real people to show how physical activity and better diet can help.
* Help create a consensus that the problem is too big for any one agency and coordinated, statewide action is needed.
* Bust myths about diabetes and obesity.
* Spread the stories further by working with a variety of statewide organizations that want to forward the links to their members.
This has been a true public health effort. The series began in February 2012. It ends in February 2013. AHCJ asked us to choose samples from the 50 Shape stories published in 2012. We picked 11 that include stories about adults, children and babies:
* The first two major stories, in which Long brought all the above facts to life. We were braced for blowback, but got none, probably because of the focus on children.
* A story (“What happened?”) that reaches back into the early 1900s to bust the “We’ve always been this way” myth. Long wove stories from several decades of state history together with CDC data and research into causes of obesity. She paired archival photos with her contemporary photos. This story captures the epidemic’s complexity. It has already been used in college classes.
* Our readers’ favorite: the story about the women of the Mud River Fire Department, wonderful souls who live in a food desert, had no exercise facilities, yet manage to do great stuff. In the sidebar, “We don’t read research. We just do it,” experts try to explain why the women succeed against the odds.
* Two stories about efforts to improve nutrition and increase physical activity in the public schools. Long visited seven school systems and camped out at the Department of Education. Her stories point to possible solutions and roadblocks. Three major stories about diabetes. Many West Virginians think diabetes can’t be prevented or controlled and do not understand the risks. In the first, Long lays out the epidemic. In “Diabetes can kill you,” she vividly lays out the risk and the hope, devoting half a page to three people on dialysis (“This is how bad it can get”) and the other half (“… it doesn’t have to be that way”) to an undiagnosed diabetic who finds a good diabetes counselor and brings his blood sugar under control. The two stories balance alarm with hope, as Long often did in this series.
* A story about breastfeeding. Long wrote this package after pediatricians rightly pointed out that breastfeeding lowers the risk of obesity and chronic disease. West Virginia has the nation’s third lowest breastfeeding rate.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Long read extensive national and state research and advice on obesity, diabetes, and many related subjects and boiled them down to publishable plain-language lists. She combed through dozens of reports from the Bureau of Public Health, the federal Centers for Disease Control, the state Department of Education and various chronic disease advocacy groups. She analyzed and charted the data from West Virginia University’s CARDIAC program, which screens thousands of schoolchildren yearly. She read through several state histories and contemporary West Virginia accounts from the early 1900s. She examined Medicaid and hospital reports, attended several Webinars and read extensively about the Affordable Care Act. No FOI requests were necessary. People wanted this series to happen.
Explain types of human sources used.
Long interviewed dozens of people in key positions in state health care, from top managers to ground-level providers to patients to academic visionaries. These people directed her to more dozens of ground-level professionals who are successfully lowering chronic disease numbers. They in turn helped her find patients who had successfully taken charge of their own health. She also interviewed three state historians and national officials of the CDC, American Diabetes Association and other groups.
Results:
Fifty stories were published as part of The Shape We’re In in 2012. The considerable impact may be a testament to the sustained outrage approach.
* The legislature’s joint health committee requested and received hard copies of the series for each member as resource material for a study. In his request, the committee Chair said the study was partly inspired by the series.
* The Shape We’re In articles directly caused The West Virginia Statewide Afterschool Network to vote “to devote 50 percent of our time to healthy lifestyle activities hereafter,” director Chris Kimes said.
* The statewide West Virginia University Extension Service partnered with the Gazette to create a healthy living Web site (http://livewellwv.ext.wvu.edu), which featured Shape articles all year. This was one of a number of collaborations that extended the series reach.
* Citing the series, the West Virginia Association of Counties established its first-ever health committee and partnered with the Gazette in a July conference to help local officials “find ways to improve healthy choices for their citizens,” said Patti Hamilton, WVACo director. “We hadn’t thought of that as part of our job before,” she said.
* After four years absence, the American Diabetes Association is returning to West Virginia. Long wrote articles highlighting their MIA status and called them repeatedly. When she first called, they said they did not plan to return. They have announced they will return in 2013.
* Citing Shape articles, the West Virginia Council of Churches director says he plans to bring churches more formally into the obesity conversation in 2013. A multidenominational event is planned for February.
* In spring 2012, West Virginia University School of Journalism multimedia students read Shape and created projects on the same theme. The Gazette published their projects.
* In a June survey, the Gazette surveyed stakeholders, who overwhelmingly said the series had set off a necessary statewide conversation and spurred multi-agency collaboration. Many asked the Gazette to keep it going.
* Shape received an award from West Virginia Health Educators for “creating a statewide conversation on the consequences of obesity and its solutions” and also an award from the state Perinatal Partnership for raising awareness and sparking solutions.
* West Virginia Prevention Research Center staff is helping create a teachers’ guide to the series, to be used with www.theshapewerein.wordpress.com, which will ensure its continuing impact.
* The 9 Shape videos and slide shows are used in various ways. The Department of Education forwarded relevant links to educators statewide and used them at school cook trainings. Higher education teachers have used them in classes.
* Long pulled together a statewide list of diabetes self-management programs for the series. The state has no such list for people who need help. The state Medicaid program, the West Virginia Medical Institute, and the nursing and medical associations say they have used the Shape list.
* To help create a statewide conversation, numerous statewide organizations forwarded links to Shape articles to members via social media and e-mail, urging them to forward them further. The social workers association, the Council of Churches, the Perinatal Partnership, the Healthy Kids’ Coalition, and about a dozen others participated.
* The Annenberg Foundation, a series funder, twice featured Shape at national conferences.
* The national WIC program put links to Shape breastfeeding articles on their Web site, causing hundreds to post them on Facebook.
* The West Virginia Association of Counties made posters of Shape articles for their health conference. Other conferences used them, including the Diabetes Symposium, the social workers, and the Perinatal Partnership.
* Individuals used Shape for homemade education efforts. For instance, here is a youtube exploration of a Shape article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yElYpFx0tfE
* Local results: After a Shape story documented remarkable fitness efforts of women of the Mud River Volunteer Fire Department, county commissioners bought exercise equipment for their VFD.
* Braxton County health department pulled agencies together to address problems outlined in a Shape story about their county. They created a community walking program and new school exercise classes and are now discussing monthly 5K run/walks.
* After an article on high prevalence of the AN marker (diabetes risk), State School Board members discussed AN screening.
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.
The Gazette has not had to run a correction or clarification and nobody has challenged the accuracy of any of the articles.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
* Focus on the medical risk of obesity, not its appearance.
* Take time to educate yourself about the medical risks and the wide range of chronic diseases that are linked to obesity.
* Talk with local historians to explore the norms and culture before the obesity epidemic. When did things change? How?
* Don’t assume people know basic information.
* Avoid medical jargon and language.
* Tell stories about ordinary people who took charge of their health. Tell how they did it, so people learn a lot while they read about these people. Write in language they might use. In your reporting, get the details that tell readers how they did it. Weave background information and research into their stories.
* Remember that this is an epidemic, even though it is ongoing. Convey its importance through sustained coverage.