Tuesday, Oct. 14 6 – 9 pm
San Francisco Chronicle newspaper offices
110 Fifth Street entrance
San Francisco
Accessible via BART (Powell St. station) and car (parking garages nearby)
Please RSVP so we know how much seating to set up. Light refreshments will be served.
The event
Join us for a lively, hands-on workshop that will hone your skills and help you overcome the hurdles of reporting and writing quality healthcare stories despite biased sources and commercial pressures in the health/medical industry. We'll look at recent examples in our local Bay Area print and broadcast media and learn tips and strategies we can use everyday. Our instructors will show that it doesn't take an extra thousand words of type or 10 minutes of air to get the accurate and balanced story you and your editors want – and your readers deserve.
Whether you're journalism student just learning the ropes, in your first job as a health reporter, or a seasoned pro, this event is for you.
In addition to all our members and local health journalists, The Bay Area AHCJ chapter cordially invites all local journalism students who are pursuing careers in science, medical, or health reporting.
Our instructors
Rave reviews for this workshop!
The AHCJ Chicago chapter hosted this event last May, and here's what participants had to say:
"…Extremely engaging and helpful!"
"A fresh approach to health writing…"
"The speakers were very compelling and offered some good examples of less-than-great health journalism as well as responsible, accurate reporting."
"Informative and enjoyable. It was refreshing to be reminded that … medical stories have more than one angle."
"Although I've been a health/medical reporter for more than 15 years, I learned a great deal I can apply to my current reporting."
"The program was certainly timely and very good … [it] brought up points too often overlooked by all medical/scientific journalists."
"Seeing both good and bad examples of health reporting put some of the issues … into perspective. I'd say the more the better."
"I've gathered an extra set of standards and key points to remember."
Background about HealthNewsReview.org
HealthNewsReview.org is dedicated to improving the accuracy of news stories about medical treatments, tests, products, and procedures. In two years of operation, it's rated more than 550 stories for accuracy, balance, and completeness using a standardized rating system of 10 criteria. Check it out before our workshop: www.healthnewsreview.org.
About AHCJ
The Association of Health Care Journalists (www.healthjournalism.org) is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality, accuracy, and visibility of healthcare reporting, writing, and editing. We have more than 1,000 members in the U.S. and overseas. You don't need to be an AHCJ member to attend our local events, but if you are a health journalist, consider joining. For a snapshot of some of the Bay Area chapter's recent events, visit http://www.healthjournalism.org/secondarypage-details.php?id=30.
Colleen Paretty
Chair, Bay Area Chapter, Association of Healthcare Journalists
Bay.Area.AHCJ [AT] gmail.com
cparetty [AT] pobox.com
510-703-1816