Covering Coronavirus: A Top Reporter’s Daily Routine
It’s already been called the story of our lifetime, and it’s moving with a speed and ferocity that makes it exceedingly hard for reporters to cover. Yet audiences everywhere are desperate for updates and accurate information amid a growing backdrop of fear and uncertainty. How do you best focus your reporting energy in the midst of such a vast crisis? What does your morning routine look like? What key sources do you rely on? How do you localize the story for your audiences? To help us answer some of these questions, we’ll turn to one of the best reporters on the COVID-19 beat. Lisa Krieger, science and medicine reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, has reported a vast trove of essential stories since late January, covering every angle of the spreading outbreak from testing debacles to the most promising potential new treatments. In this webinar, Krieger will share how she stays on top of the story every day, and offer immediately actionable tips that will bolster your own coverage.
Webinars are free and made possible by The Commonwealth Fund and the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.
Panelists
Lisa M. Krieger is a journalist for the San Jose Mercury News/Bay Area News Group (BANG), covering science, medicine and the environment from Stanford University, University of California, NASA-Ames, U.S. Geological Survey, Lawrence Livermore National Labs and other Bay Area-based research facilities. She is BANG’s lead reporter on the COVID-19 crisis. Prior to joining the Mercury News, she covered HIV/AIDS and clinical medicine for The San Francisco Examiner. She also covered public health problems in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and rebel-held Sri Lanka after the East Asian tsunami in 2004, on loan to Knight-Ridder. She is an instructor in UC Santa Cruz's Science Communication Program, where she teaches science feature writing. She is also a freelance contributor to National Geographic Online, Bay Nature and University of California publications. She scripted the KQED e-book “Biotechnology;” co-authored the book “Incredible Voyage: Exploring the Human Body.” published by National Geographic Press; and edited the University of California Press Book “AIDS: A Community Response.” She earned a degree in biology from Duke University.
View the slides from Lisa Krieger's presentation.
Suggested reading & resources
- Read Lisa's coverage for the San Jose Mercury here.