Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent at KFF Health News, joined the Institute for a webinar on how to handle the chaotic 24-hour news cycle while still finding innovative ways to tell critical public health stories. Here are three tips to improve your health policy coverage:
- Understand that public health is not the same as health care. Health care is about care for an individual. Public health is about care for an entire community. It includes not just doctors and nurses, but also epidemiologists, statisticians, social workers, engineers, researchers, teachers, and community workers. Covering public health as a reporter means covering things that affect the health of society as a whole.
- Public health stories are everywhere: From food safety to playground zoning, there is a public health element to almost any topic. Use your imagination to find different angles at the local, state, and national level.
- Seek out organizations that can help you cover public health. Every state, city, and county has a health department, and part of that mission is to communicate with the public. Journalists can find sources through organizations like the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
Resources/Background:
This program was part of the Institute’s inaugural Public Health Reporting Fellowship, funded by the Common Health Coalition. It’s being opened to the public at no cost.
About the speaker
Julie Rovner is the chief Washington correspondent at KFF Health News and hosts the outlet’s weekly health policy news podcast, “What the Health?” Previously, she spent 16 years as a health policy correspondent for NPR, where she helped lead the network’s coverage of the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third edition. In 2005, she received the National Press Foundation’s Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress. Before working at NPR, Julie, a University of Michigan graduate, covered health policy for National Journal’s Congress Daily and for Congressional Quarterly, among other organizations.
About the Common Health Coalition
The Common Health Coalition: Together for Public Health brings together leading health organizations in pursuit of a reimagined health system: one in which the nation’s health care and public health systems no longer work in parallel, but hand in hand — with better health for all as the common goal.
The Common Health Coalition is hosted by the Institute for Public Health Innovation, a non-profit that builds cross-sector partnerships, promotes health equity, and works to create effective public health systems and policies that foster healthy communities. To sign up for the newsletter or learn more, visit commonhealthcoalition.org and follow on LinkedIn.
About the National Press Club Journalism Institute
The National Press Club Journalism Institute promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press, and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire a more representative democracy. As the non-profit affiliate of the National Press Club, the Institute powers journalism in the public interest. The Institute depends on grants, foundation funds, and contributions from individuals like you. Your donation today allows the Institute to offer the majority of its programming at no cost.