J-Topics
Apr 28, 2009
The BBC offers a "risk guidance checklist" for reporters seeking to balance their coverage of health scares.
There's also useful commentary by the BBC staffer Roger Harrabin in "Risky Business" British Journalism Review (15/1), March 15, 2004, p28-33.
(For those without library access or personal subscriptions, the article may be purchased at Sage Publications.)
There's also useful commentary by the BBC staffer Roger Harrabin in "Risky Business" British Journalism Review (15/1), March 15, 2004, p28-33.
(For those without library access or personal subscriptions, the article may be purchased at Sage Publications.)
Apr 28, 2009
- Posted by Regan
Ray
The Science Media Centre in London and its counterpart in New Zealand have put together a backgrounder for journalists on swine flu as well as an FAQ for reporters and a round-up of expert responses.
The backgrounder includes the basics about the flu as well as a good series of links to other resources options, including the American Veterinary Medical Association.
The backgrounder includes the basics about the flu as well as a good series of links to other resources options, including the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Apr 28, 2009
- Posted by Regan
Ray
The U.S.-based Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) has put together a tip sheet called "Resources for covering swine flu, pandemics and preparedness." Some of the resources...
Apr 28, 2009
Back in 2003, John Doyle, The Globe and Mail's TV columnist, pointed out that both officials and the press underestimated TV's power to foster fear rather than provide perspective. And it's not just photos of people in masks that do it:
"Scenes of officials sitting at a table and talking in vague terms are precisely what works on TV to generate fear.... For television to be used to calm fears and present an image of a situation under control, the clichés of medical shows must be harnessed -- an empathetic authority figure who is in charge of the SARS crisis should have been put front and centre on TV to speak in terms that mean something to everybody. Instead, for weeks, a gaggle of people with vague titles talked about 'probable and suspected cases' and merely made the world scared of SARS in general and Toronto in particular." ("SARS coverage fuels fear instead of calming it, " The Globe & Mail, April 28, 2003.)
Words worth remembering as swine-flu fever builds.
"Scenes of officials sitting at a table and talking in vague terms are precisely what works on TV to generate fear.... For television to be used to calm fears and present an image of a situation under control, the clichés of medical shows must be harnessed -- an empathetic authority figure who is in charge of the SARS crisis should have been put front and centre on TV to speak in terms that mean something to everybody. Instead, for weeks, a gaggle of people with vague titles talked about 'probable and suspected cases' and merely made the world scared of SARS in general and Toronto in particular." ("SARS coverage fuels fear instead of calming it, " The Globe & Mail, April 28, 2003.)
Words worth remembering as swine-flu fever builds.
Apr 27, 2009
- Posted by Regan
Ray
CBC has compiled data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention into a "Swine flu: FAQ" page for readers. The
page includes answers to questions including, "Can humans catch swine
flu?" and "Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?" As with all stories online, the public immediately began to weigh in on the information provided. For example...
Apr 26, 2009
Apr 22, 2008
- Posted by Deborah
Jones
"Canadian media give inordinate coverage to health care issues and largely ignore the 'non-medical' determinants of health ... This coverage is at odds with our research which shows that Canadians see homelessness as an urgent social and health issue," writes Dr. Jim Frankish in the online journal The Tyee.
(Frankish is an academic at the University of B.C. who chairs the Impact on Communities Coalition, is a senior scholar at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and professor & director at the Centre for Population Health Promotion Research, College for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Department of Healthcare & Epidemiology.)
(Frankish is an academic at the University of B.C. who chairs the Impact on Communities Coalition, is a senior scholar at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and professor & director at the Centre for Population Health Promotion Research, College for Interdisciplinary Studies, and Department of Healthcare & Epidemiology.)
Apr 04, 2008
- Posted by Candace
Gibson
New breakthroughs, radical treatment options, the costs and benefits of a new piece of technology: all of these events fall on the desks of daily news reporters in all markets and regardless of their beat or specialization. With that in mind, the American Medical Writers Association journal published guidelines in 1999 to help journalists who don’t have a background in science to better navigate a health science story.
Guyatt, G. et al. (1999) A journalist’s guide to writing health stories. AMWA Journal. 14(1):32-42.
Mar 05, 2008
Article:
"Spreading the News: Social Determinants of Health Reportage in Canadian Daily NewspapersCanadian Journal of Communication," Vol. 32, No. 3 (2007)
Abstract:
As part of a research program called CHAMP (Canadian Health and Media Project) devoted to examining health literacy in Canadian daily newspapers, and operating from a theoretical framework that posits journalism as a practice of representation, this article is based on a series of formal interviews with English-language and French-language health reporters. The interviews sought answers to three central questions about health reportage: how do journalists demarcate such a vast topic as health? where do they find their stories? and to what extent are they familiar with research into the social determinants of health? It concludes that in spite of their dependence upon published scholarly research as a source of news stories, Canadian health reporters overemphasize the roles of the health care system and personal health habits in the production of Canadians’ health, and they underemphasize the role of social determinants.
Authors:
Mike Gasher, Concordia University
Michael V. Hayes, Simon Fraser University
Ian Ross, Ministry of Education, Government of Ontario
Robert A. Hackett, Simon Fraser University
Donald Gutstein, Simon Fraser University
James R. Dunn, University of Toronto and St. Michael's Hospital
Full text available in Proquest (CBCA), Ebsco, and by subscription at CJC-online.
"Spreading the News: Social Determinants of Health Reportage in Canadian Daily NewspapersCanadian Journal of Communication," Vol. 32, No. 3 (2007)
Abstract:
As part of a research program called CHAMP (Canadian Health and Media Project) devoted to examining health literacy in Canadian daily newspapers, and operating from a theoretical framework that posits journalism as a practice of representation, this article is based on a series of formal interviews with English-language and French-language health reporters. The interviews sought answers to three central questions about health reportage: how do journalists demarcate such a vast topic as health? where do they find their stories? and to what extent are they familiar with research into the social determinants of health? It concludes that in spite of their dependence upon published scholarly research as a source of news stories, Canadian health reporters overemphasize the roles of the health care system and personal health habits in the production of Canadians’ health, and they underemphasize the role of social determinants.
Authors:
Mike Gasher, Concordia University
Michael V. Hayes, Simon Fraser University
Ian Ross, Ministry of Education, Government of Ontario
Robert A. Hackett, Simon Fraser University
Donald Gutstein, Simon Fraser University
James R. Dunn, University of Toronto and St. Michael's Hospital
Full text available in Proquest (CBCA), Ebsco, and by subscription at CJC-online.
Sep 18, 2007
- Posted by Brian
Gabrial
The Globe and Mail’s public health reporter André Picard, also the paper’s Quebec bureau chief, has written two books about health issues: Critical Care: Canadian Nurses Speak for Change and The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada’s Tainted Blood Tragedy. In this Q & A with the Canadian Journalism Project, Picard discusses his beat and the forces that he believes should shape health reporting today.
The Globe and Mail’s public health reporter André Picard, also the paper’s Quebec bureau chief, has written two books about health issues: Critical Care: Canadian Nurses Speak for Change and The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada’s Tainted Blood Tragedy. In this Q & A with the Canadian Journalism Project, Picard discusses his beat and the forces that he believes should shape health reporting today. 
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