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. 

The New Social Search Engines: Useful for Your Health Reporting?

By Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>Recently, I participated in a <a href="https://www.newsu.org/social-media-search">Poynter NewsU webinar</a> to learn how to search social media more effectively, hoping to glean some tips for journalists and others covering health issues. Like many of you, I can search Twitter and Facebook, but Time magazine reporter and search whiz Jeremy Caplan offered some tools that go well beyond those platforms.</p>

Nope, No Mad Cow Disease Here

By Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>A mad cow disease scare, smokers hiding from their dentists, and some heart screening tests you probably don't need, plus more from our Daily Briefing.</p>

The need for organs for transplants far exceeds the supply

By Frank Sotomayor

<p>During my reporting on organ donation for my fellowship project, one source’s quote stood out. “I’m a living example that organ donation works,” Vicky Mai Nguyen told me. She’s a 26-year-old woman who’s in good health and thriving. Had it not been for a liver transplant, she likely would never have made it to 2.</p>

The New Health Care Reform Battle: Funding

By Angilee Shah

<p>Today's <em>Reporting on Health Daily Briefing</em> is keeping up with health care reform battles, grammar wars and hospitals' care for illegal immigrants.</p>