Introduction to Health Journalism
Health & Science Reporting Program, Spring 2013
Thursdays, 2-4:50 p.m., Room 438
Instructor: Emily Laber-Warren
Contact: emily.laberwarren@journalism.cuny.edu; (646) 932-4043
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, by appointment
Scientists making cancer “vaccines.” Athletes subjecting themselves to illegal blood
transfusions to improve performance. Hospital administrators trying to cover up deadly
mistakes. These are some of the stories that health journalists pursue. This survey course
has two goals: to introduce you to the richness and diversity of health journalism, and to
provide you with the practical and conceptual tools you need to practice it successfully.
As we will discover, even within these narrower subject areas there are a wealth of topics
for journalists to explore, as well as different audiences (health nuts, public policy geeks,
techies, etc.), and venues.
So, for example, in covering food and nutrition, you might write a story for the
Brooklyn Paper about people growing food on their New York City rooftops. Or you
might report for a TV network on food scares—how contaminated spinach, eggs, or
hamburger got into U.S. supermarkets. You might reveal to Wired’s readers the brave
new world of genetically modified animals, such as the “EnviroPig,” whose manure
would be less polluting. You might tell Psychology Today’s readers which diet will
promote a vigorous brain.
Class periods will consist of discussions of journalism you have read, heard or
viewed; lectures on human biology, public health, the U.S. health care system and other
content; and skills-building seminars. We will cover both science and writing skills: from
learning to assess the value of a medical study to translating technical material into
engaging prose. Guests will vet student work and share their specific expertise.
REQUIRED BOOKS
Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012, edited by Dan Ariely, series editor Tim
Folger, Mariner Books.
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, by Roy Peter Clark, Little,
Brown, 2006.
The Cartoon Guide to Genetics, by Larry Gonick and Mark Wheelis, Collins Reference,
1991.
Covering Medical Research: A Guide for Reporting on Studies, by Gary Schwitzer,
Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism and Association of Health Care
Journalists, 2010. Digital version will be provided.
News & Numbers: A Guide to Reporting Statistical Claims and Controversies in Health
and Other Fields, by Victor Cohn and Lewis Cope, second edition, Iowa State Press,
2001.
OTHER READING
If you read The New York Times’ health coverage and subscribe to a few of the following
health-news sites (newswise, sciencedaily, eurekalert, livescience, New Scientist, The
Scientist, Scientific American, reportingonhealth.org), you will do fine on the quizzes.
OUTCOMES
By the end of this semester, students should be knowledgeable about the varied landscape
of health journalism. They should be aware of the many topics that health journalists
cover, and the kinds of angles that work for different publishing venues. Students should
also leave this course with a firm grasp of the following:
Science skills:
 Human biology: DNA and proteins, cells and organ systems, epigenetics,
neurotransmitters, and immunity
 Evaluating medical studies
 Statistics for health reporters
 Fundamentals of toxicology & risk
Writing and reporting skills:
 Finding and pitching health story ideas
 Navigating medical databases
 Finding medical experts and getting access to patients
 Producing for service publications
 Who’s who of government agencies & research centers
 Translating technical material into compelling prose and images
CLASS RULES
Please keep laptops closed during class unless you are doing an in-class writing project or
you are instructed to open them. Get a notebook in which you can take notes. (If you
need to distract yourself, there’s always doodling and old-fashioned daydreaming…)
WARNING ABOUT PLAGIARISM AND FABRICATION
Plagiarism may involve copying text from a book or magazine without attributing the
source, or lifting words, photographs, videos, or other materials from the Internet and
attempting to pass them off as your own. IT MAY HAPPEN ACCIDENTALLY. We will
talk about proper work methods. But whether intentional or not, plagiarism is a serious
offense that can ruin a professional’s reputation and could get you kicked out of school.
ALSO NOTE: You may not turn in an assignment that is identical (or even slightly
altered) to two different classes without express permission from both professors.
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
1. Study story (350-500 words)
The study story is a staple of health (and science) journalism. It is a short, newsy
piece that reports the findings of a paper that has been recently published in a medical (or
scientific) journal. The study story is a critical format for you to master. Ideally you will
try to get your study story published. For that reason, you should choose a study that has
not gotten much attention—i.e. the press release was not on Eurekalert, the study was not
published in one of the top journals—Science, Nature, New England Journal of
Medicine—that most editors read. I will help you to find and peruse the lesser-known
journals. You must provide factchecking document and process paragraph.
2. Explainer video: Translating the technical (2-4 minutes)
One of the most challenging tasks for a health (or science) writer is to delve into a
complex topic and then find an engaging way to describe it to ordinary folks. In this
assignment, I ask you to throw caution to the winds, reach deep into your creative selves
and create an explanatory video that draws on low-tech visual metaphors. We will watch
a variety of examples for inspiration.
3. Profile: Patient, Doctor, or Scientist at Work (750-1,000 words)
This is not a personality profile; it’s a look at a newsy health or research topic that’s
anchored in a character. This person may be a researcher who recently made an
interesting discovery, a doctor piloting a way to treat patients, or a patient who underwent
a crisis and life change. Patient profiles may be pitched to everydayhealth.com. You
must provide factchecking document and process paragraph.
QUIZZES AND SHORT ASSIGNMENTS
There will be a handful of graded short assignments. Among them: a brief beat memo,
health story ideas brainstormed from news events, and a study story written on deadline.
There will also be quizzes on health topics in the news, as well as factual material
covered in some class sessions, including human bio and risk.
SOME POSSIBLE BEATS TO CHOOSE FROM (NOT EXHAUSTIVE)
Infectious disease, obesity, immunity, addiction, pharmaceuticals, the microbiome, brain
& behavior, evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, mental illness, nutrition,
fitness, women’s health, inflammation, brain/machine interface, transhumanism.
MAJOR DUE DATES
February 28 (Week 4): Study story
March 7 (Week 5): Profile pitch
March 14 (Week 6): Revised study story
March 21 (Week 7): Video script
SPRING BREAK
April 4 (Week 8): Beat memo
April 18 (Week 10: Profile
May 2 (Week 12): Video
May 16 (Week 14): Revised profile
GRADING
Study story: 20 percent
Explainer video: 20 percent
Profile: 20 percent
Quizzes: 10 percent
Short assignments: 20 percent
Class preparedness and participation: 10 percent
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
(Note: Homework assignments are subject to change. By Saturday morning, the
following week’s plan will be final.)
WEEK 1 (JANUARY 31)
Introduction to Introduction to Health Journalism (how meta!)
Some of the big, and small, questions health journalists consider; class rules to follow this
semester including laptops-closed protocol; a preview of the work you’ll be doing; a
lecture on medical studies (woo-hoo!); and a skills session that will get you started on
finding good studies to report on. In the skills session, you will learn to pick studies from
journals other than the top ten. This knowledge will give you a leg up over other science
writers, and means that you may be able to pitch the study stories you write for class to a
professional outlet.
Click here for a list of journals, ranked by impact factor
How_to_read_a_science_paper
The_Kinds_of_Medical_Studies
GREAT RESOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING MEDICAL STUDIES:
1 www.healthnewsreview.org
Website that evaluates the quality of health journalism. NOTE THE SECTION CALLED
“TIPS FOR UNDERSTANDING STUDIES”
2 healthjournalism.org
Website of the Association of Health Care Journalists NOTE THE SECTION CALLED
“CORE TOPIC: MEDICAL STUDIES”
I’ve pasted excerpts from these resources here and in the homework for next week:
Health news review’s comparison of WebMD and Reuters Health coverage of a
chocolate/stroke study:
WebMD_Chocolate_May_Cut_Women’s_Stroke_Risk_HealthNewsReview
WebMD_Chocolate_May_Cut_Women’s_Stroke_Risk
ReutersHealth_Chocolate_stroke_HealthNewsReview
ReutersHealth_Chocolate_stroke
HOMEWORK for Feb. 7:
Read: News and Numbers, Chapters 1-6 (in my 2d edition, that’s pp. 1-88)
Read: AHCJ booklet: “Covering Medical Research” Covering-Medical-Research
Read: Pages from AHCJ website:
AHCJ: Medical Studies_Intro1
AHCJ: Medical Studies_intro2
AHCJ: Medical Studies_KeyConcepts
AHCJ: Medical Studies_Glossary
Read: Pages from “Studying a Study and Testing a Test”
Different_types_studies_fromtextbook
Choose your beat. Note that you will not be limited to your beat for stories you work on
this semester PLEASE EMAIL YOUR BEAT CHOICE TO ME BY TUES FEB 5 AT
9PM
Chose a study to cover–PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR STUDY (or abstract if that’s all
you have) BY MON FEB 4 AT 9PM
Read this study and four articles that covered it in anticipation of our Skype interview
with the author, Carrie V. Smith of University of Mississippi:
Virginity_Loss&Current_Sexual_Satisfaction
Does How We Lose Our Virginity Scar Us For Life?
Could Your “First Time” Determine Your Future Sex Life?
Why the First Time Really Matters
Study: How We Lose Our Virginity Shapes Our Entire Sexual Life
WEEK 2 (FEBRUARY 7)
Understanding Medical Studies
We will Skype with a psychologist at the University of Mississippi whose recent paper on
the impact of first sexual experiences was, in her opinion, misunderstood and unfairly
trashed by journalists at Slate and the Huffington Post who did not properly understand
the study’s aims and limitations.
We will go over concepts from the reading such as statistical significance and “number
needed to treat.” Students will share their chosen studies and we will go over the structure
of a study story, who to interview and how to find them.
Bonnie Kerker, an epidemiologist at the NYC Department of Health, will deliver a primer
on how to be a smart interpreter of medical studies, by knowing how to do such things as
read P-values and discern conflicts of interest.
HOMEWORK for February 21:
Read: “Inhibition of medio-dorsal thalamus disrupts thalamo-frontal connectivity and
cognition,” by Sebastien Parnaudeau, Pia K O’Neill, Scott S Bolkan, Ryan D Ward,
Atheir I Abbas, Brian L Roth, Peter Balsam, Josh A Gordon, and Christoph Kellendonk
Parnaudeau_ONeill2012
Read: Excerpt from “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat,” by Oliver Sacks (I will
provide)
Read: “Neuroscience or Neurobabble,” by Rebecca Goldin
Read: “Inside the Baby Mind,” by Jonah Lehrer Lehrer_MindofBaby
THERE IS NO CLASS ON FEBRUARY 14–HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY
WEEK 3 (FEBRUARY 21)
Neuroscience and Psychology
Everyone is interested in learning what makes them tick, and there is more fodder than
ever. Recent advances in neuroscience reveal the brain in action, but the value of these
scans is often overblown. Our guest is Pia Kelsey O’Neill, a Ph.D. candidate in
neurobiology at Columbia University who studies schizophrenia. She will describe what
it’s like to conceive, conduct, write and publish a medical study. You will have read a
study that she worked on, which she will dissect with us in class. I will review what
makes a good profile, and how to write a pitch, in anticipation of the profile pitch due on
March 7.
HOMEWORK for Feb. 28:
Read: The Cartoon Guide to Genetics, entire book.
Read: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, Parts 1 and 2, pp. 1-116
FINISH YOUR STUDY STORY
WEEK 4 (FEBRUARY 28)
Marvels of the Human Body
Our guest, Molly Josephs, a biology teacher at the Dalton School, will go over the basics:
atoms, molecules, cells, nuclei, DNA, and proteins. This week we will also crib ways to
take technical material, no matter how dry it initially seems, and bring it to life for our
audience. We will experiment with analogy, sentence length, description and language as
you build your explanatory writing chops. YOUR STUDY STORY IS DUE BY
MIDNIGHT.
HOMEWORK for March 7:
Read: “I Want My Prostate Back,” by Laurence Roy Stains, Men’s Health Coping with
Prostate Cancer: Men’s Health.com
Read: Excerpts from “Overtreated,” by Shannon Brownlee (I will provide)
Read: “The Cost Conundrum” by Atul Gawande, The New Yorker, June 1, 2009
McAllen, Texas and the high cost of health care : The New Yorker
Read: Dr. Otis Brawley: “The System Really Is Not Failing … Failure Is the System”
DrOtisBrawley
Listen: “Surgery May Not Be the Answer to an Aching Back,” by Joanne Silberner, NPR,
April 6, 2010. Listen online (4 minutes):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125627307
Watch: “Sick Around America,” Frontline, (1 hour):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundamerica/view/
FINISH YOUR PROFILE PITCH
WEEK 5 (MARCH 7)
Overtreatment and the U.S. Health Care System
Medicare. Medicaid. The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
The delivery of health care is a big, complex, confusing business. Spending on health is
17 percent of the U.S. GDP. That’s more than $8,000 per year for every man, woman and
child. Yet millions of Americans have no insurance, and hence no access to doctors at all.
And while the privileged–those with insurance–get lots of high-tech care, that doesn’t
mean it’s the best care. The U.S. ranks low amongst developed nations on the most basic
measures of health, from infant mortality to life expectancy. This week you will gain a
basic understanding of the creaky workings of the delivery of health care in America. An
emerging way of understanding the problem is overtreatment–the huge number of
unnecessary tests and therapies. More is better is an American credo. But surgeries and
pharmaceuticals have side effects and may cause harm. Guest Barry Scholl of the
Commonwealth Fund will brief us on who pays for health care, structural problems in the
system that the 2010 Affordable Care Act aims to address, the strengths and weaknesses
of the new law, and issues with implementation. YOUR PROFILE PITCH IS DUE BY
MIDNIGHT.
HOMEWORK for March 14:
REVISE YOUR STUDY STORY
Read: Excerpts from “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” by Michael Pollan (I will provide)
Watch: “Food, Inc.” by Robert Kenner, 2008, 1 hour 34 minutes. Can immediately
stream/download from amazon.com for $2.99 rental fee: http://www.amazon.com/FoodInc/dp/B002VRZEYM/ref=sr_1_5_vod_0_msg?ie=UTF8&qid=1327905208&sr=8-5
Listen: “Detroit Truck Responds to City’s Food Desert Crisis,” NPR, November 2, 2010,
listen online (7 minutes):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131000846
WEEK 6 (MARCH 14)
Food and Nutrition
Food seems mundane but it’s integral to fascinating issues that touch on everything from
technology (genetically modified crops and, now, animals) to social issues (geographic
placement of fast food restaurants), and the question (ever more pressing as obesity
becomes epidemic) of how to lose weight and whether some people are programmed to
be fat. It used to be that experts considered weight gain a simple matter of calories
in/calories out, but research is revealing it’s not that straightforward. Gastrointestinal
bacteria play a role, as does priming that occurs in the womb because of a pregnant
woman’s food choices. This week we will also explore the world of science explainer
videos. Our guest Eric Olson, a video producer at Scientific American, will show us how
household objects and simple props can create smart visual metaphors. YOUR REVISED
STUDY STORY IS DUE BY MIDNIGHT.
HOMEWORK for March 21:
WRITE YOUR VIDEO SCRIPT AND DELIVER IT TO ME BY WEDNESDAY,
MARCH 20 AT NOON
**SATURDAY, MARCH 16, IS FIELD TRIP TO THE ASSOCIATION OF
HEALTH CARE JOURNALISTS CONFERENCE IN BOSTON**
WEEK 7 (MARCH 21)
Individual conferences
You will each meet individually with me in a 20-minute session. We will discuss how all
of your main assignments have gone/are going, and your progress in the class. YOUR
VIDEO SCRIPT IS DUE THE DAY BEFORE OUR SESSION.
HOMEWORK for April 4:
FINISH YOUR BEAT MEMO
Read: “Demonizing Fat in the War on Weight,” by Dinitia Smith, The New York Times,
May 1, 2004
SPRING BREAK: MARCH 28
WEEK 8 (APRIL 4)
Public Health: Epidemics vs. Lifestyle Diseases
Public health may sound bland, but using statistics to look at health issues across society
provides a window onto many of the most pressing dilemmas of our time. Is spending
hundreds of thousands of dollars on aggressive interventions including surgery the best
way to care for the elderly and dying? What is behind the decision by many of today’s
parents not to vaccinate their children? The rise in obesity and related health problems—
heart attack, stroke, diabetes—in the United States is one of the factors driving out-ofcontrol health care costs. There is a huge human toll as well. Particularly troubling is the
climbing obesity rate in young children. CUNY distinguished professor of public health
Nick Freudenberg will join us to talk about the field and how it has changed in recent
decades, from a focus on vaccinating against rampant infectious diseases (polio,
whooping cough) to an attempt to change how people eat and their activity levels. We’ll
also talk about epigenetics: changes to genes (caused by such factors as diet, exercise,
and emotional stress) that contribute to both mental and physical resilience. YOUR
BEAT MEMO IS DUE BY MIDNIGHT.
HOMEWORK for April 11:
Read: “Risk Reporting 101,” by David Ropeik, Columbia Journalism Review, March 11,
2011 Risk Reporting 101 _ CJR
WEEK 9 (April 11)
Environmental Toxins and Risk
Environmental health is a tricky area to cover, because it’s not ethical to directly expose
people to potential toxins. Studies therefore look at people who have already been
exposed and struggle to untangle the effects of that specific exposure from other aspects
of their experience. Many reporters make easily avoidable errors when covering these
issues, for lack of a basic understanding of what constitutes risk. Our guest Scott Dodd,
an editor at OnEarth, will present a primer on covering risk. We will also talk about how
to spin health stories off breaking news.
HOMEWORK for April 18:
FINISH YOUR PROFILE
WEEK 10 (April 18)
Complementary and Alternative Health
Acupuncture, massage, and other “alternative” therapies have been shown to have
efficacy for specific conditions, though the mechanisms are not always clear. And
research initiatives are few and far between, which makes covering reflexology,
aromatherapy, meditation and ayurvedic medicine challenging. Yet Americans spend
more money each year on such non-Western treatments, and are hungry for information
about them; hospitals are beginning to incorporate them into standard care. Learn about
how to cover such topics responsibly. Also, guest Genny Pittman, a reporter at Reuters
Health, will talk with us about how to report a study story on deadline. YOUR PROFILE
IS DUE BY MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.
HOMEWORK for April 25:
There will be a small amount of prep for the in-class deadline writing assignment.
WEEK 11 (April 25)
Deadline Writing: Study Story
NOTE: CLASS WILL BEGIN AT 1PM THIS WEEK
HOMEWORK for May 2:
FINISH EXPLAINER VIDEO
Read: “Letting Go,” by Atul Gawande, The New Yorker LettingGo_AtulGawande
Read: “What Broke My Father’s Heart,” by Katy Butler, The New York Times
Magazine, June 18, 2010 A Pacemaker Wrecks a Family’s Life – NYTimes.com
Read: “Does Anyone Here Think This Baby Can Live?” by Darcy Frey, The New York
Times Magazine, DoesAnyoneHereThinkThisBabyCanLive?
Read: “Sally Has Two Mommies and One Daddy,” by Rebecca Skloot, Popular Science
SallyHas2Mommies+1Daddy
Watch: “The Suicide Plan,” Frontline ( 1 1/2 hours):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/suicide-plan/
Watch: “Life Panel? Death Panel?” pbs.org (approx. 30 min):
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/541/index.html
WEEK 12 (May 2)
Birth and Death
The most significant moments of our existence are when we come into the world and
when we leave it, moments increasingly attended by complex medical, ethical, and
financial issues. Reproductive technologies to coax pregnancy and neonatal intensive
care units are incredibly costly and at the same time technologically astounding. We’ll
explore some of these issues. Also, guest Mia Lobel, a radio journalist, will give tips on
how to translate science and health topics into great audio. YOUR EXPLAINER VIDEO
IS DUE BY MIDNIGHT.
HOMEWORK for May 9:
Nothing yet!
WEEK 13 (May 9)
Service Journalism
You only have to glance at a newsstand to see that a significant segment of the market for
health stories consists of so-called service journalism, i.e. providing hands-on advice.
People are bent on self-improvement: we want to be healthier and more attractive, have
more friends and more sex, be better parents and partners, stress less and derive more
satisfaction from life. The key to service journalism is knowing precisely who your
audience is and providing information that people can act on right away. Veteran service
writer Holly St. Lifer will tell us how it’s done.
HOMEWORK for May 16:
FINISH PROFILE REVISION
Read: “The Depressing News about Antidepressants,” by Sharon Begley, Newsweek,
January 28, 2010
Listen: “Is Emotional Pain Necessary,” by Alix Spiegel, NPR, August 2, 2010
Listen: “Soldiers Say Army Ignores, Punishes Mental Anguish,” by Daniel Zwerdlin,
NPR, December 4, 2006. Listen online (23 minutes):
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6576505
WEEK 14 (May 16)
Addiction and Mental Health
Mental health is big business for pharmaceutical companies, and is a study in fascinating
human stories and changing cultural ideas. One of the emerging lenses is the notion of
“neurodiversity,” i.e. considering people with autism, ADHD, and other mental health
labels as having unique strengths as well as vulnerabilities. Our visitor today is Wendy
Brennan of the NY chapter of NAMI. YOUR REVISED PROFILE IS DUE BY
MIDNIGHT.
HOMEWORK for May 23:
Watch: “Brain Power,” 60 Minutes, August 9, 2009, watch online (13 minutes):
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5228109n
WEEK 15 (May 23)
The Biotech Revolution
The intersection of technology and health is a fascinating and futuristic place. Artificial
retinas and limbs that connect directly to the brain promise to restore lost abilities.
Robotic surgeons offer unthinkable precision. We will take a FIELD TRIP this
afternoon to Genspace, a DIY biotech lab in Brooklyn, where journalist and Genspace
cofounder Dan Grushkin will introduce us to the scene.