How easy it is to forget the 46.6 million Americans without health insurance (according to the latest census figures). And how difficult it seems to be for many journalists to remember to cover this growing portion of the population.
Last week I got a note from Gary Rice, who calls himself "an old newspaperman and journalism professor" at Cal State-Fresno. He wrote, "You may not remember me, but we talked a year ago after your presentation at the SPJ (Society of Professional Journalists) convention in Las Vegas. I asked you for suggestions of health-related stories my community journalism students could do, and you suggested focusing on the uninsured and underinsured.
We did it.
My best student in the spring semester put together an incredible 8-story package with info boxes on the health care crisis in Reedley, Calif., population 21,000. The weekly newspaper there is running the whole shebang as a special section."
Congratulations, Professor Rice and to your student on a truly special effort.
I was talking with a major metro newspaper health reporter recently who said, "You can talk about news of the uninsured, but how do we make that new and interesting to our editors?" You showed how: by reminding editors that more of their readers - of many demographics - are now among the uninsured. You've reminded your students that one of the jobs of journalism is to give voice to the voiceless and to put faces on the statistics.
Posted by schwitz at September 27, 2006 07:09 AM | TrackBack