J school part of new Midwest Health Journalism Program
A consortium of six health foundations in Kansas and Missouri has pledged $724,739 to establish the Midwest Health Journalism Program, an annual fellowship program for reporters and editors from both states.
The program involves a cooperative effort among the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Kansas Health Institute and the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at KU.
The aim of the program is to provide established journalists with the tools needed to improve the depth and amount of coverage focused on critical state and local health issues. The result should be a better-educated public and more accountability for policymakers, say program planners.
The Association of Health Care Journalists, based at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism, will conduct the training program through its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. The Kansas Health Institute will administer the grant and coordinate overall planning and marketing efforts, while KU will evaluate the training project and its results.
The funding organizations include The Kansas Health Foundation, Wichita; The Sunflower Foundation, Topeka; The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, Hutchinson; the REACH Healthcare Foundation, Merriam; the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, Kansas City, Mo.; and the Missouri Foundation for Health, St. Louis.
"The funding foundations jointly agreed that a formal training program was urgently needed given the increasing importance of the health policy discussion at the state and national levels," said Jim McLean, the Kansas Health Institute's vice president of public affairs.
The program will begin in the coming weeks with selection of the first year's class of five fellows from each state. The fellows will be able to tap the health journalists association's many resources and attend special training events and conferences.
The effectiveness of mid-career training in health and health policy will be assessed by a team of researchers under the direction of Rick Musser, KU professor of journalism.
"We are particularly interested in comparing fellows' health reporting skills before and after training and evaluating changes in coverage following this specialized training," said Musser, who heads KU's news and information track within the journalism school.
An advisory board has been set up to assist in selecting fellows and media topics. Board members include Doug Crews, executive director of the Missouri Press Association; Doug Anstaett, executive director of the Kansas Press Association; Brian Steffens, executive director of the National Newspaper Association; J. Schafer, news director for Kansas Public Radio; and Steve Roling, president and CEO of The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
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