On this episode, we’re joined by journalists Tara Haelle and Bara Vaida to talk about the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) and health journalism in the age of Covid-19. They explained what the organization does, why it is invaluable to health care journalists as an informational and networking resource, as well as their role as topic leaders in medical studies and infectious disease, respectively.
Tara talked about the importance of media understanding the different stages of vaccine development. Bara talked about writing about pandemic preparedness and why it’s important for reporters to understand the connection of politics and health care.
They explained the challenges that occur when some political reporters enter the health journalism landscape – understanding that evidence trumps “both sides” reporting. They talked about the value of Twitter in helping them find public health experts and lessons learned that could be applied to reporting on future health care issues (such as health care disparities, listening to the right experts for the right questions, and building public health literacy).
We ended the discussion by talking about their journalistic passions, what advice they would have for future journalists, and what journalism organizations they would like to salute.
Notable Links
AHCJ website
AHCJ Twitter
Tara’s Twitter
Bara’s Twitter
Tara’s website, TedXTalk on vaccination, and parenting book
Bara’s website and pandemic preparedness article
University of Alabama professor Meredith Cummings on teaching, touring newsrooms, and journalism for children of all ages
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg on Running a Family-Owned Jewish Newspaper
Amjambo Africa: Georges Budagu Makoko & Kathreen Harrison On Covering The African Experience in Maine
The Forward Editor-In-Chief Jodi Rudoren on Covering All Aspects of Judaism
Journalism Teacher Alana Van Der Sluys On The Value of Journalism Education
Prism Editor-in-Chief Ashton Lattimore on How Her Newsroom Sees the World Differently
Bettina Chang of City Bureau On Producing Impactful, Equitable, Publicly-Responsive News
Siri Carpenter on The Open Notebook and Creating A Science Writers Community
Making Journalism History Accessible with Teri Finneman & Nick Hirshon of the AEJMC
Gabriel Kahn of Xtown.LA on Data Journalism at the Local Level
Bene Cipolla of Chalkbeat on Covering the Classroom
Becoming a Better News Consumer with Darragh Worland of the News Literacy Project
KING-5 news anchor Steve Bunin on Asking The Right Questions
Holly McCall of Tennessee Lookout on Covering A State With A Supermajority
Trusting News with Joy Mayer
The American Journalism Historians Association w/ Dr. Donna Lampkin Stephens and Dr. Aimee Edmondson
What is Solutions Journalism - With Michelle Faust Raghavan
InvestigateWest Executive Director Allison Augustyn
What is Dialogue Journalism? - Spaceship Media Co-Founder and CEO Eve Pearlman
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Freakonomics Radio
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
Criminal
Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World