Health Journalism 2020
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June 2020 CrainsNewsPro.com Stay Honed: New Corona Skillsets A SPECIAL REPORT Best Practices for Health-Care Reporting Like Nothing Before Page 6 Journalists on the COVID-19 Frontline Share War Stories and Tips The Struggle For Transparency Covering a Crisis in The Donald Trump Era Page 8 Getting Ready For the Pandemic AHCJ’s Ivan Oransky on What’s Likely to Follow Page 12 One Reporter’s Quarantine Odyssey 49 Very Hard Days For NBC’s Mackey Frayer Page 26 indepenence THANK YOU JOURNALISTS FOR YOUR COVERAGE KEEPING US INFORMED DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC CrainsNewsPro.com FROM THE EDITOR CrainsNewsPro.com News Crazy Nation How many employees at news media companies will be laid off, furloughed or have their pay reduced by the time the current COVID-19 crisis ends? That’s something I’ve been wondering about of late. A New CONTENTS York Times article by Marc Tracy published April 13th put the total at HANDLE WITH CARE ............................. 5 28,000, dating back to the start of the coronavirus. And that is, of course, COVID-19 Health Story Angles after so many layoffs last year at companies like Gannett, Vice Media Require Special Skillsets and CNN. POLITICAL DYNAMICS ......................... 8 There are other side effects to journalists, of course — most especially Covering a Pandemic in the COVID-19’s personal impact. Another is the possibility of reduced Trump Era Is Like Nothing Else financial resources for legal battles related to accessing valuable information via the Freedom of Information Act. ERODING CREDIBILITY ...................... 10 Without minimizing any of those consequences, I do see some positives. One involves the Mike Cavender on the sheer vitality of journalism — shown by news people who are quoted throughout this magazine. President’s Unique Approach While I was reporting on the winners of the Association of Health Care Journalists awards, WHAT COMES NEXT? .......................... 12 competition committee co-chairman Tony Leys told me how impressed he was by the huge AHCJ President Ivan Oransky increase in entries and the outstanding caliber of the stories that were submitted. The jury On Preparing for Future Crises found it tough to pick out the ultimate winners. EMOTIONAL TOLLS ............................. 14 Also giving me hope: live news is absolutely critical to lots of advertisers. Many media Dan Shelley on the Personal companies need live newscasts to remain financially viable moving forward. Impact of Covering COVID-19 The public’s interest in traditional media has risen as well. A recent study by Havas Media, “Media Meaningful Media & COVID-19,” conducted in late March and early April, TAKING A BACK SEAT......................... 16 shows that younger audiences are turning to radio, newspapers and magazines with much Climate News Is Overshadowed greater frequency as they try to understand how their worlds are morphing. Almost 70% of For Now, But Not Forever respondents in the Havas study said that local news was either very trustworthy or somewhat FREELANCER DILEMMA .................... 18 trustworthy, versus 37% for President Trump. California’s AB5 Regulation The key to the future state of journalism may lie in figuring out how to sustain the hunger May Spread to Other States and curiosity after the pandemic is over. It’s passion that will save us, I think — the passion AHCJ AWARD WINNERS ..................... 20 that is part of the DNA of any reporter worth their salt — and the desire of people to actually Honoring the Best of the Best hear and see the truth. Health-Care Stories in 2019 — Janet Stilson, Editor QUARANTINED IN CHINA ................... 26 NBC News’ Mackey Frayer on Her Corona-Coverage Journey ADVERTISING SALES Ph: (212) 210-0748 Executive Producer: EDITORIAL OFFICES NewsPro (ISSN 2151-1764), Volume 11, Issue Jeff Reisman, [email protected] (212) 210-0748 Phone: (212) 210-0748 2, is published regularly at Crain Communi- Producer: cations Inc., 685 Third Avenue, New York, NY Publisher: Fawn Lopez Danny Schreiber, [email protected] (503) 723-9688 10017. Periodical postage pending at New Editor: Janet Stilson Production Management: Robert Hedrick, Jamie Pendley York, NY, and additional mailing offices. POST- MASTER: send address changes to NewsPro, NewsPro® is a registered trademark of Crain Communications Inc. Circulation Dept., 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2912. Visit us online at CrainsNewsPro.com NEED AN INFORMED FOR YOUR STORY ON PRODUCT SCIENCE, S BENEFITS & TRENDS? eaning ivÌ i£ÓÈ PHONE: ÓäÓ°ÈÈÓ°Óx£ÇEMAIL: i`>JVi>}ÃÌÌÕÌi°À} ONLINE: Vi>}ÃÌÌÕÌi°À} June 2020 | NewsPro | 3 SPECIAL REPORT: COVERING COVID-19 THE STORY THAT SHOOK THE WORLD here are millions of stories about how COVID-19 has emotions that journalists are grappling with as they report on the impacted individuals, all over the world. In the following devastation. Tspecial report, NewsPro has collected the perspectives of one In his column, Ivan Oransky writes about the need to prepare for very essential group within that overall universe: news people. future viruses that could cause similar crises. And Mike Cavender e personal stories related in the following articles include zeros in on President Trump’s attacks on the press and his eroding Tara Haelle’s experience dealing with angry Twitter responses to credibility. Last, but far from least, NBC News’ Beijing-based her Forbes reports. en there’s the frustrations of e Boston correspondent Janis Mackey Frayer relates a very personal story. Globe’s Felice Freyer related to the lack of honest information from Our hope is that this special report will illuminate the many government o cials. (Read the rst two articles in this package nuances of what journalists are facing. Further out in time, may it for more on them.) Separately, Dan Shelley discusses the tough serve as a reminder of what took place in the dark days of 2020. It’s Personal Now Coronavirus Health-Related Angles Hit Close to Home. By Janet Stilson my Maxmen went on high alert at the end of February Not only does COVID-19 hit news people where they live— when she read a Twitter posting written by Trevor Bedford, impacting themselves or their loved ones directly in many cases—but Aa computational biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer “the speed of it, and the fact that we don’t know a lot about the virus, Research Center in Seattle. Bedford reported that the novel makes it really, really challenging for journalists,” said Bara Vaida, a coronavirus had been spreading in Seattle for six weeks and journalist who’s written for news outlets that range from MSNBC to hundreds of people might have been infected. Kaiser Health News. “That was on a Saturday. I phoned my editors and said, ‘I need to As a topic leader on go to Seattle now,” said Maxmen, a reporter at Nature. infectious diseases for the Before long, Maxmen was traveling to Washington state. Association of Health “That’s where I broke the story about how labs there had been Care Journalists (AHCJ), wanting to test for the coronavirus over the past month and hadn’t Vaida has fielded plenty of been able to, and they finally could,” said Maxmen, referencing questions from journalists the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s regulations that didn’t on the coronavirus beat. allow academic labs to test Some have sought Vaida’s for COVID-19. Finally, the advice on how to find the University of Washington’s right experts. Needless virology department lab was to say, the most qualified able to do so. sources are extremely busy Those early days of virus and in demand. coverage have mushroomed Others are concerned into an ongoing story that’s with issues related to shook the world. Seasoned striking the right balance HELEN BRANSWELL science journalists like in their stories. “We get the Maxmen have relied on a lot continued on page 6 of the skillsets and knowledge acquired over years at the same time they have dealt “[The virus is] all around us. with unique and very tough challenges on both personal and professional levels. It’s changing our world. It will Helen Branswell, a senior AMY MAXMEN writer at Stat who is focused fundamentally change the on infectious diseases and public health, notes that with outbreaks like Zika in Brazil and way the world functions.” Ebola in Africa, it was possible to write at a distance and feel compassion. “In this case, it’s all around us. It’s changing our -Helen Branswell, Stat world. It will fundamentally change the way the world functions,” she said. June 2020 | NewsPro | 5 SPECIAL REPORT: COVERING COVID-19 continued from page 5 criticism that journalists are “Wow. A lot of passion,” she said with a laugh. scaring people,” Vaida says. Regardless, Haelle says that journalists covering the virus don’t In the early days, it was have to explain as many technical terms to the general public as they hard to deliver tough news usually do, because people have become more educated as the crisis without causing the public has developed. to stampede supermarkets for essential items, for POINTERS FROM THE PROS example. Journalists and medical experts have some pointers for those on the frontlines of covering the COVID-19 crisis from the standpoint of CONCERNS & health care. “Try to keep the politics out of it as much as possible,” COMPLAINTS advised Stat’s Branswell. “This virus doesn’t care how people vote. It Good journalists know doesn’t give a damn.” how to ramp up their Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s knowledge of new topics Center for Health Security and an assistant professor at Johns at a pretty quick pace; it’s Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, noted that people in BARA VAIDA part of their nature.