Insights

<p>When choosing doctors, people like to know the answers to a few basic questions. </p><p>"Do they have the right amount of experience?"</p><p>"Are they conveniently located?" </p><p>"Do they accept my insurance?"</p><p>Somewhere above, "Do they stock <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/">Popular Mechanics</a> in the lobby?" and below "Did they go to medical school?" might be these questions:</p><p>"Do they abuse drugs?"</p><p>"Are they honest?"</p>

<p>The first seminar of the California Broadcast Fellowship this weekend elicited debate on many health-related topics. But the future of news -- how multimedia and Twitter alongside shrinking newsroom budgets are changing what it means to be a journalist -- created some of the most robust conversations.</p><p>Here are remarks from a few of the fellows to get an online conversation going -- you can add to the discussion by commenting here or by participating in the <a href="/community/forum">Reporting on Health forums</a>.</p>

<p>Two new swine flu developments today remind us that this pandemic is still very much with us, despite its near-absence lately in the mainstream media. Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSN01480382">reports<…; that H1N1 cases have been confirmed in all 50 states and that more than 10,000 people have been infected with the virus (you can check out the U.S. Centers for Disease Control's official state-by-state count <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm">here</a&gt;).

<p>Don't you want to help this woman out?</p><p></p><p><i>Renata Celona lost both of her parents at a young age, victims of high blood pressure, the second leading preventable cause of death. </i></p><p></p><p><i>She checks her blood pressure at least once a day, avoids salt and tries to squeeze in trips to the gym between working two jobs and raising three kids on her own.</i></p><p></p><p><i>"I tell my kids that I am always going to be there for them," Celona, 47, says. "Even if I can't always pick them up from school, they know I will be tucking them into bed at night." </i></p><p></p>

<p>What happens when 20 health journalists walk in to a convenience store in downtown Los Angeles and ask about buying tetracycline without a prescription?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.capradio.org/programs/bios/biodetail.aspx?bioid=77">Kelley Weiss</a>, a health care reporter at Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, is one of this year's California Broadcast fellows. For her report, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93065914">L.A. Takes On Prescription Drug Swaps</a>, she reported on a thriving black market for prescription drugs from abroad and accompanied a team from the multi-department Health Authority Law Enforcement (HALT) Task Force to collect illegal pharmaceuticals.</p>

<p>According to a <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Adults-and-Social-Network-Websi… Internet and American Life social networking survey</a>, 35% of online adults had profiles on social networking sites in 2008, compared to 8% in 2005. Online social networking is still a "phenomenon of the young" for how ubiquitous Facebook and MySpace is among 18 to 24 year-olds, but 35% of adults overall have profiles on networking sites. African-American and Hispanic adults are more likely to have profiles than whites adults.</p>

<p>Investigative reporting on a deadline is all about having a great Rolodex.</p><p>ABC News' Lisa Stark says, "The key thing about sources is that you need them as much, if not more when you do daily news."</p><p>Echoing NBC's Robert Bazell in the keynote speech of the seminar, Stark and Michael Berens of the Seattle Times say that there is no shortcut to cultivating good sources. Having strong relationships with a large base of people who will provide you with information takes time and persistence.</p>

<p>Lack of primary care and attention to chronic disease are the real ills of the health care system, panelists said at a seminar on health care reform for California Broadcast Fellows.</p><p>Anthony Iton, public health officer for Alameda County, says that 3 out of every 4 health care dollars goes to the treatment of chronic disease. "It is the elephant in the room. If you're not talking about chronic disease, you're not talking about health," he says.</p>

<p>Mark Katches is the deputy managing editor for projects at the <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/">Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a>. He leads a team of reporters who have been watch-dogging the use of chemicals in food containers and other products for the past two years.