Insights

<p>I’ve spent years covering health and medicine, and because I teach kids, I’m especially aware of the public health gospel: Control your diet, exercise, and if you smoke, stop.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>But the person who’s really taught me about healthy living is my Aunt Nicole.</p>

<p>It's the kind of thing that makes traditionalists in journalism cringe, and convinces them that technology will ruin the integrity of news. SEO is the tech acronym for "search engine optimization," ways to design websites and content that will rank highly in search results. What many journalists might not realize is that the techniques of SEO are actually not that far off from the fundamentals of hard news.</p>

<p>Today’s <em>Daily Briefing</em> comes to you from the halls of the California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships seminars. Join the conversation about new ideas in health journalism with the <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23chjf">hashtag #chjf on Twitter</a>&nbsp;as you get today’s e

<p>Health reporters receive calls from people all the time who say they are experiencing symptoms of <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/cfs/">chronic fatigue syndrome</a>, <a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fibromyalgia/DS00079">fibromyalgia</a&…;, and, most recently, <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/unexplaineddermopathy/">Morgellons</a&gt;, and they can’t get help.

<p>The California Health Journalism Fellowship is officially underway after our first meeting tonight, here in downtown Los Angeles. Keynote speaker and social epidemiologist Carolyn Cannuscio presented her jaw-droppingly thorough report on health in needy Philadelphia communities, and I wanted to share a few thoughts before calling it a night.</p>

<p>Carolyn Cannuscio comes from an avid newspaper-reading family. The health and science sections were always the table favorites. She recalls a conversation with her father where he imparted his wish that she do "something big" with her career. "Write a letter to Jane Brody about your work!" he sai

<p>Here’s what we’re checking out today:</p> <p><strong>Health Insurance:</strong> Los Angeles’ City Attorney has <a href="http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fi-healthmarkets-20101021,0,7689480.st… national health insurer HealthMarkets</a> and its financial backers, including Goldman Sachs Group, for selling “junk insurance” to consumers and businesses, Duke Helfand of the Los Angeles Times reports.</p>

<p>With my <a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/blogs/clearing-air-air-pollution-issue… entry</a> in this blog, I described some of the potential environmental effects that could be caused by massive expansions at the Port of Long Beach and nearby facilities. With our Reporting On Health Fellowship beginning this weekend, I thought I would post another quick update with a few details.</p>

<p>Last year, I was reporting a story about alternative churches in San Francisco. I talked to Matthew Fox, an Oakland pastor and the creator of the Cosmic Mass, a Christian rave that replaces sermons and hymns with techno music and dancing. Hold the drugs. Fox developed his event as a way for people to experience and process intense feelings of ecstasy, anger, and grief.</p> <p>"We're not shown ways to deal with grief," he said. "It's where a lot of our addictions come from. We bottle it up, we take a drink or a pill."</p>

<p>I attended a meeting Tuesday evening where I felt real inspiration.</p>