Insights

You learn a lot when you spend months reporting on a given issue or community, as our fellows can attest. Whether you’re embarking on a big new story or seeking to go deeper on a given issue, it pays to learn from those who’ve already put in the shoe leather and crunched the data. In these essays and columns, our community of journalists steps back from the notebooks and tape to reflect on key lessons, highlight urgent themes, and offer sage advice on the essential health stories of the day. 

How to Pitch to HealthyCal.org

By Angilee Shah

<p>If you have ever been a freelance journalist, you know how hard it can be to break into a new outlet. That's why opportunities like those offered by HealthyCal.org are golden. The site focuses on health policy and how it connects to communities around California, an apt topic for editor Daniel Weintraub who spent nine years as a public affairs columnist at the <em>Sacramento Bee</em>. When Weintraub launched HealthyCal.org just over a year ago, he was the main content producer. Now, he's looking for new contributors from all over the state to connect Sacramento politics with ground realities.</p>

SXSW Interactive: Health Outlook

By Angilee Shah

<p>I'll admit it: I am a South by Southwest newbie. But since the megaconference is expecting over 14,000 participants in the Interactive portion alone, I'm going to guess I won't be the only one. But I've done my homework, downloaded the (indispensible) mobile app, and scoured the schedule for new ideas in health. Here are the panels that caught my eye.</p>

Kwashiorkor in Surf City: 5 Tips from California Watch's Medicare billing investigation

By William Heisel

<p>Picture a honey sunrise glistening across the Pacific. A wave rises up, lifting a golden surfer, hair flapping in the wind like a flag as he negotiates a perfect turn and glides toward the beach. He steps onto the sand and his smile falls. Among the women in bikinis and men playing volleyball is a horrible scene of human suffering: a throng of senior citizens in wheel chairs, their bellies distended from malnutrition, flies landing on their eyelids, which are too sapped of any strength even to blink them away.</p>

Youth Journalism Resources

By Marona Graham-Bailey

<p>Young people represent the next generation of our reporters. Not only will early training produce a crop of talented journalists, it gives youth a platform to voice how issues directly affect them — all while gaining insight into the topics they research and report. Youth media may appear in the form of school publications, classroom-produced projects, partnerships between youth and media organizations or independent, citywide media outlets. Here are some examples of youth-produced media and teacher resources to get you started:</p>

Medical Bankruptcies in Massachussetts: After Reform, No Decline

By Barbara Feder Ostrov

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Answers and more in our Daily Briefing.</p>