I’m in the airport, on my way home from the annual meeting in Atlanta of the Association of Health Care Journalists. I saw a lot of old friends, met new friends, and established in-person friendships with many Twitter and Facebook friends. (Most overheard line at meetings: “It’s so nice to meet you in person!”) As usual, some of the best discussions occurred over a drink or at dinner, when we compared notes about stories, editors, the financial health of old and new media, and making a living as a freelancer. More than 600 of AHCJ’s members turned out for the meeting.
Former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter kicked things off with a report on the health-care work the Carter Center is doing in Africa, including the near eradication of the guinea worm, a Carter Center signature project. Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, gave a luncheon talk that managed to be both entertaining and frightening (not an easy rhetorical trick) about the need for reforms in cancer screening and treatment. I didn’t take notes so I can’t give you the exact quote, but after talking about a drug that did more harm than good and about the wide overuse of MRI and CT scanners, he said, in words to this effect, The treatment is going to give the patient a 5% increased risk of death, but we can take awfully good pictures of her as she dies. (Book plug: More of the same, along with a dark view of the future of American health care, appears in Brawley’s new book How we do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America.)
Many AHCJ members spoke about their experiences freelancing (including this member, at a panel Sunday morning), and about covering health care and medicine. It is a very friendly and helpful group. I can’t prove it, but I strongly suspect the organization and its annual meeting do a lot to improve health and medical coverage in the U.S.
One of the highlights of the meeting, for me, was the announcement of the association’s Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. (You can find the winners’ list here.) It’s inspiring to be reminded that reporters and editors are still putting out good stories, very good stories, at a time when journalism is in such turmoil.
Here’s an excerpt from one award-winning story in the “consumer and feature” category. It’s entitled “The Woman Who Fell to Earth.” Deborah Shurson was on a skidiving trip with her husband, Randy. He jumped first and landed with…
a thud when he heard screams, and turned to see Deborah, her partially opened white chute wrapped around her like a shroud as she streaked toward the ground. Her main chute had never opened, and she was frantically clawing her way to her reserve chute.
Deborah’s parents, who had brought a picnic lunch, stood paralyzed as they watched her in freefall at 125 miles per hour, then saw her disappear behind a hill in a little mushroom cloud — her reserve chute opening too late.
That was in 1982. You’ll have to follow the link if you want to know what happened, because you’re not going to get any spoilers from me.
That gripping story, written by Ruthann Richter for Stanford Medicine Magazine, was the second place winner in the category. The winner was written by Tahlia Honea of the Skagit Valley (Wash.) Herald. It was about a man suffering from throat cancer, who was told by his doctor that as the tumor in his throat grew, it would eventually block his airway, leading to “a horrible death” by asphyxiation. The patient’s choice: Should he use the lethal pills his doctor gave him, or not?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel won top honors in the categories of health policy reporting and investigative reporting in large publications. The top three awards for beat reporting went to David Armstrong of Bloomberg News (first place), Trine Tsouderos of the Chicago Tribune (second), and Jordan Rau of Kaiser Health News (third).
I counted 35 awards. There are familiar names among the winners, and unfamiliar names–a good sign that good journalism in thriving at more than a few outlets.
Now is the time for reporters who cover health care to decide whether they want to attempt a story that might be worthy of an award next year. Stories shouldn’t be written to win awards, but stories that win awards generally prove to have been worth the time and effort put into them.
– Paul Raeburn
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