Insights

I’m an education writer. My job at the Oakland Tribune is, mostly, to report on the local public school systems and the people in them. But the context in which children live -- and in the case of this project, breathe -- often comes into my reporting, too. It has to. Asthma is one of those realities.

The CBO estimates health law costs, states slash Medicaid, female condoms touted as fashionable and more from our Daily Briefing.

This Thursday, as part of the 2012 National Health Journalism Fellowship in Los Angeles, investigative reporter Duff Wilson will address the story that has everyone talking about food lobbying: How Washington went soft on childhood obesity. I asked him via email about how he did that story.

Join the Colorado Health Foundation online for Symposium University...

Fact-checking Obama on PTSD, pertussis in Canada, a commitment on AIDS and more from our Daily Briefing.

If you could do one thing to ensure that you had a long, healthy life, what would you do? If you have less than a high school degree at 25, you can expect to live another 44 years, on average. Those with a graduate degree, however, can expect to live another 60 years, on average.

The Chinese call it the hundred day cough. In Spanish it is tosferina or “Bark of the Dog.” Pertussis, a.k.a. whooping cough, is a disease that many thought to be a thing of the past, but has been making a comeback for several decades now. In some cases, it has been deadly.

Coaching works for weight loss, the gathering storm against Obamacare, health effects of climate change and more from our Daily Briefing.

Numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals about pain as well as media coverage of pain begin with the premise that far more people suffer from pain than are adequately treated for it. This broad trend may be true, but the specific numbers sometimes used to justify this assertion merit more scrutin

How can a reporter make those urgent stories on complicated health care topics feel urgent to the uninitiated? A compelling personal story isn't always enough to help the audience understand the deeper trend or causes. Sometimes the best solution is to find unusual sources or framing devices.