Health Media Jobs and Opportunities: Radio and Medical Centers; Freelancers Wanted

August 11, 2011

If on-air health reporting is your niche, Southern California Public Radio is looking for a health care reporter. We've also highlighted some writing positions at hospitals and a handful of freelance gigs. In addition, you'll find updated information on upcoming grants, fellowships and educational opportunities and projects. To keep up with the latest discussions on topics relevant to health journalists, follow Career GPS posts and job listings via RSS. To submit a job listing, please email knativid@usc.edu.

 

Featured Listing

Reporter II, Southern California Public Radio
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Status: Full Time
Medium: Radio

"The Reporter II will be responsible for covering health care. The Reporter will research, report, write & file on-air & online reports for newscasts & talk shows. S/he will also provide additional material as needed for station's digital news service & assist with the development of online reporting projects. The Reporter will contribute story ideas & assist in fine-tuning others' ideas as well as being a resource to other News staff & editors.

  • Covers health care beat
  • Cultivate sources; Participate with Public Insight Network involvement, if applicable
  • Establish priorities & goals for beat
  • Deliver substantive reports on varied subjects on a tight deadline
  • Pitch, report & produce daily & breaking news stories & feature stories
  • Provide high quality "live" reports with newscasts & talk show & host 2-ways
  • Produces for website with writing & photography
  • Assemble, edit & mix stories for air
  • Work with news editors to generate ideas.
  • Assist other reporters, producers & editors with information
  • Assist in special programming
  • Operate production & studio equipment & facilities"

 

New Job and Internship Listings

Director of Communications, Health Leads (via mediabistro)
Location: Boston, MA
Status: Full Time
Medium: Other

Managing Director, Consumer Publications, American Diabetes Association
Location: Washington, D.C.
Status: Full TimeMedium: Print

Senior Medical Writer, Bulletin News
Location: Reston, VA
Status: Full Time
Medium: Online

Senior Editor & Staff Writer, Massachusetts Medical Society
Location: Waltham, MA
Status: Full Time
Medium: Other

Healthcare Writer, Colorado Hospital Association (via mediabistro)
Location: Greenwood Village, CO
Status: Full Time
Medium: Print/Online

Freelance Writer, NYU Langone Medical Center (via mediabistro)
Location: New York, NY
Status: Freelance/Project Basis
Medium: Print

Researcher & Fact Checker, Healthcare/Medicine, Simon & Schuster author (via Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism)
Location: Mill Valley, CA
Status: Part Time/Freelance (6-12 months)
Medium: Print

Health Reporter, Healthycal.org (via JournalismJobs)
Location: Fresno, CA (and other cities)
Status: Freelance
Medium: Print

 

Fellowships and Grants

George Polk Grants for Investigative Reporting, Long Island University
Eligibility: Applicants should have a proven track record as an investigative reporter. Special consideration will be given to journalists who have been laid off or are no longer employed by a news organization.
Deadline: Unspecified
From the Website: This program is intended as a resource for the reporter who always has wanted to dig into a particular topic or who has developed useful expertise – who knows "where the bodies are buried" – on a matter of public interest that may be local, national or international in scope. Grants will range from $2,500 to $10,000, depending on the duration and complexity of the proposed project."

Australian-American Health Policy Fellowship, The Commonwealth Fund
Eligibility: Mid-career health services researchers or practitioners who are U.S. citizens and have completed a master's degree or doctorate (or the equivalent thereof) in health services research, health administration, health policy, or a related discipline. Applicants should demonstrate expertise in health policy issues and track record of informing health policy through research, policy analysis, health services, or clinical leadership.
Deadline: Aug. 15, 2011
From the Website: "This program offers a unique opportunity for outstanding, mid-career U.S. professionals-academics, government officials, clinical leaders, decision makers in managed care and other private health care organizations, and journalists-to spend up to 10 months in Australia conducting research and working with Australian health policy experts on issues relevant to both countries."

National Library of Medicine Fellowships, Association of Health Care Journalists
Eligibility: Apply via website
Deadline: Aug. 22, 2011
From the Website: "HCJ will select four journalists to spend a week on the campus of the National Institutes of Health. The selected journalists will learn how to explore the latest NIH research, learn to understand and interpret biomedical statistics, take advantage of NLM's data, programs and resources for stronger stories, and get hands-on training in PubMed, MedlinePlus, ClinicalTrials.gov, ToxNet and Household Products Database."

California Health Journalism Fellowship, USC Annenberg California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships
Eligibility: Open to professional journalists from print, broadcast, and online media in California, including freelancers. Applicants need not be full time health reporters, but they need to have a passion for health news (broadly defined).
Included: All-expenses paid seminars in Los Angeles, mentoring for completion of reporting project
Deadline: Aug. 26, 2011
From the Website: "During the Fellowship sessions, Fellows get plenty of time to discuss with experts, and with each other, strategies for covering health news with authority and sophistication. Between the two sessions and for three months after the second session, Fellows confer by phone and e-mail with veteran journalists who guide them through work on major Fellowship projects. The Fellowship will meet from November 17-20, 2011 in Los Angeles and from February 23-25, 2012."

Spring 2012 Global Health Fellowship, International Reporting Project
Eligibility: U.S. journalists with at least five years of professional experience in any medium.
Deadline: Oct. 3, 2011
From the Website:"The International Reporting Project (IRP) is offering up to five IRP Fellowships for U.S. journalists to report on global health topics such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, maternal and child health or new scientific research aimed at reducing the impact of global diseases. The nine-week reporting Fellowships will begin in mid-February 2012 and extend through mid-April 2012. Fellows will spend two weeks in Washington at the IRP offices preparing for their overseas trips and then five weeks reporting on their chosen health topics in the country of their choice. Fellows will return to Washington for a final two weeks of reporting and presentations of their findings."

 

Educational Opportunities

Workshop: Reporting on Intimate Partner Violence, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
Eligibility: Apply for consideration; due date: Sept. 26, 2011 at 5 p.m. EST
Program: The workshop, supported by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will take place October 21 and 22, 2011 at the Columbia Journalism School in New York.
From the Website: "The workshop will feature a wide range of national and local mental health and policy experts, award-winning journalists, educators and prevention advocates. It will include background briefings as well as specialized reporting skills training to enhance journalists' capacity to report on relationship violence knowledgeably, ethically and effectively. It will examine these issue across diverse communities and special populations including teenagers, immigrants and refugees; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals."

 

Projects

Health Care in the States, NPR News and Kaiser Health News
Eligibility: Experienced public radio news reporters currently employed by an NPR Member Station
Deadline: Aug. 19, 2011
From the Website:"Health Care in the States will give up to 24 NPR Member Station reporters the opportunity to spend several months diving more deeply into health care issues affecting their communities and the nation. The project will empower partnering stations to expand and deepen their health-care coverage, surface more local stories for NPR coverage, and make often-complicated national health care issues understandable and relatable to their audiences."

 

Awards

2011 Excellence in Journalism Awards, Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California
Eligibility: Stories must have been published between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2011, by a news outlet or individuals based in Northern California.
Deadline: Aug. 19, 2011
From the Website: "For the past 26 years, the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has selected from among the Bay Area's best of the best for its acclaimed Excellence in Journalism Awards. These awards honor the journalists whose work best reflects the SPJ ideals of initiative, integrity, talent and compassion."