Project

CHCF Center for Health Reporting

USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism

The Project

Following a successful six-month pilot project, the California HealthCare Foundation granted $3,285,000 over three years to support a new concept in health care journalism. The CHCF Center for Health Reporting at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism will create partnerships with traditional and emerging media of all types across California to report on the most vexing health care issues facing the state: quality, access, and cost.

Leading the Center will be USC Professor Michael Parks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former editor of the Los Angeles Times, who recently completed a seven-year term as director of USC Annenberg School for Communication. Parks will chair the Center's board of advisors and lead the Center's development. An editor-in-chief and staff of journalists will be based primarily in Los Angeles and will include one Sacramento-based reporter to cover health policy-related issues.

Progress to Date

Since the inception of the pilot in the fall of 2008, the Center has been instrumental in the publication of a number of major pieces of in-depth health care reporting:

• "Sowing Hope," a three-part series in the Merced Sun-Star examining the University of California's plans to build a new medical school in the San Joaquin Valley.
• A two-part series in the Fresno Bee documenting the diabetes epidemic in California's farming communities and the difficulties residents face in obtaining proper treatment for the disease.
• "Collision in Care," a three-day, 13-story series in the Santa Cruz Sentinel that focused on the local exodus of primary care doctors and its effects on Medicare patients and other vulnerable populations.
• A multi-part series on conflict and competition among local hospitals in the north San Diego County area with the North County Times.
• A ground-breaking series with the Redding Record Searchlight on how the way fires are fought in the surrounding mountains affects the health of local residents.

Project Background

It is a turbulent time in journalism. Confronted with the rapid migration of news and information from the print and broadcast media to the Internet, newsrooms are cutting costs by jettisoning staff until new sustainable economic models can be created. In recent years, dozens of health care journalists have been let go or transferred to other beats. Others have abandoned the field entirely.

Many news organizations no longer have the time or resources needed to produce the explanatory stories that are of the highest value to their readers. At the same time, a growing number of people in government, industry, and the health care professions who count on the media to inform the public say that it is becoming difficult to find journalists with enough expertise to produce sophisticated reporting.

This shakeout is occurring at a time when health care has become a top concern of the American public — particularly for those who follow the news. A 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that health and medicine ranks as one of the subjects most sought after by newspaper readers. Some 77% said they "spend a lot of time" reading health and medical news, a level of attention which far outpaced that devoted to stories about business, sports, or entertainment. Health care affordability issues are increasingly linked to worries about the economy, a subject that is rapidly eclipsing all others on the national stage.

About the California HealthCare Foundation

CHCF has an established reputation as a non-partisan innovator in health care news and information. In 1998, the Foundation launched California Healthline, an electronic news summary service that chronicles daily developments in health care policy and practice. The Foundation also publishes iHealthBeat, whose stories examine the intersection between information technology and health care for a national and international audience.

An essential part of CHCF's purpose is to inform and educate Californians about the mechanics of the state's health care system: how it functions, how well it is working, and the effects it has on the lives of people around the state. The Foundation is committed to providing such information to a wide array of groups interested in the health of health care in California, including policymakers, industry leaders, the medical workforce, researchers, and the public. For more information on CHCF, browse www.chcf.org.

About the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is among the nation's leading institutions devoted to journalism and communication, and their impact on politics, culture, and society. With an enrollment of more than 1,900 graduate and undergraduate students, USC Annenberg offers degree programs in journalism, communication, public diplomacy, and public relations. Find out about employment opportunities.