Why (Health) Journalism Matters, In A Tweet

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Twitter

Why does journalism matter? The National Press Foundation will award an iPad to the person who can best answer that weighty question in a 140-character tweet.  

The Foundation is holding its second annual "Why Journalism Matters" contest on Twitter, and the deadline is midnight Tuesday. Just put #journalismmatters in your tweet to be eligible. Unlike many online contests, you might actually have a decent shot at winning this one: as I write this post, 418 tweets carry the #journalismmatters hashtag, with a good number of them simply promotional.  

Of course, this got me wondering: why does health journalism matter? My own tweet would be pretty simple:

Good #healthjournalismmatters because it can save lives.

My colleague William Heisel, who writes ReportingonHealth's Antidote blog, offers this:

The best health writers distill the evidence to help people make smarter choices and lead better lives.

And ReportingonHealth's executive editor, Michelle Levander, wrote this one:

#healthjournalismmatters because health is everything: potable water, roads to opportunity, policy for healthy change and healing.

What would yours be? I hope you'll share your ideas in the comments below.