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Public Media 2.0 Showcase
Kaiser Health News represents a new source in funder-supported investigative journalism
email discuss Posted by Katie Donnelly on Aug 11, 2009 at 12:29 PM
As the crisis in the traditional news industry has worsened, foundations have become increasingly interested in supporting reporting projects that provide users with in-depth, well researched information. Kaiser Health News, a new initiative from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is designed to provide both deep and wide coverage of U.S. health care policy and related issues. According to their website:
KHN’s mission is to provide high-quality coverage of health policy issues and developments at the federal and state levels. In addition, KHN covers trends in the delivery of health care and in the marketplace. Among our goals: provide new opportunities for health care journalists to produce in-depth work and a new vehicle to distribute it through collaborations with major news organizations and on this Web site. This Web site also features daily summaries of major health care news from across the nation, as well as original videos and a broad range of commentary from contributing writers and experts.
The non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation has long focused on health care policy research, news, and public information campaigns. They have also been instrumental in providing health journalists with much-needed resources through their Media Fellows Program, which awards journalists up to $55,000 for a nine-month, health-related project. In recent years, the fellowship program has been redesigned to emphasize multimedia reporting. The Foundation has also partnered with many news organizations and helped to create some great journalistic pieces— see, for example, The Washington Post’s excellent “Being a Black Man,” which was produced in collaboration with the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. However, the Foundation’s sophisticated analysis has traditionally been packaged in a bland, database-like format that appeals to only the most dedicated health policy connoisseurs. Enter Kaiser Health News, which showcases the Foundation’s work as well as timely health care news items in a way that is both user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing.
The Foundation previously ran a news clearinghouse at kaisernetwork.org, which has now been integrated with Kaiser Health News. KHN employs former staffers from kaisernetwork.org as well as new journalists, including Executive Editors Peggy Girshman (formerly of Congressional Quarterly and NPR) and Laurie McGinley (formerly of The Wall Street Journal). While KHN is completely editorially independent from the Kaiser Family Foundation, KHN’s funding comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation endowment.
I recently had the pleasure of talking to Kate Steadman, Assistant Editor at Kaiser Health News. Steadman explained that KHN is a new approach to health policy news that shines in its range and depth of content. She noted that KHN follows model similar to that of to Pro Publica, except they focus exclusively on one subject. While KHN’s target audience is policy makers and heavy consumers of health care news, they try to make sure that their articles are accessible for an average consumer. The goal, according to Steadman, is to break through the various sides of debate and provide “the real story.” All content is free and users and partner organizations are encouraged to reprint articles in order to reach as wide an audience as possible.
One example of great coverage on KHN is their deconstruction of existing health care ads. In this “Ad Audit,” they pick apart Conservatives for Patients’ Rights’ advertisement, “Squeeze,” claim by claim. The information is comprehensive yet accessible for users with varying healthcare expertise. Additionally, KHN’s Blog Watch offers a comprehensive round-up of healthcare related articles, videos, blog posts, and interviews. This section consistently highlights some of the most innovative healthcare related information on the Web, including some really fun and engaging interactive graphic tools. However, while KHN does a great job of curating existing multimedia, their own multimedia section is currently not as varied — or as interesting — as their articles and blog posts. According to Steadman, Kaiser Health News will be expanding upon both the blog and the multimedia components in the near future. The site has only been active since June 1 (after two years of development) and while the editors have a vision and resources for multimedia, they have not yet had the time to devote to extensive multimedia production. The bulk of the multimedia coverage includes their “Health on the Hill” series of roundtable discussions about healthcare policy issues. However, there are a few short, originally produced documentaries, like this really fascinating one, about a the Barter Clinic in Floyd County, Virginia, where patients can receive health care in exchange for goods and services, such as vegetables, childcare, and carpentry:
Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman says that Kaiser Health News is not trying to be a model of nonprofit journalism. Their work exists to complement that of mainstream journalists, and they are dedicated to building upon their existing relationships with news organizations, including NPR, The Washington Post, USA Today, and ABC News.
Nevertheless, Altman maintains that KHN is carving its own path in the world of online journalism:
To be honest, we are in some ways going against the grain here. Our aim is not investigative reports, snarky opinion or blogs, or breaking news headlines that can fit on a cable news ticker or Twitter feed, though we have no problem if KHN sometimes “breaks news.” Nor do we want to cover regular daily health news, a job which will get done without us. Unlike some others, we do not seek to achieve policy change; indeed, I view that as antithetical to our purpose — excellent in-depth news coverage. Nor are we putting ourselves forward as a model for the future of nonprofit journalism. Indeed it is what is most different and un-replicable about us that is probably most striking.
So far, this strategy appears to be working quite well. According to Steadman, KHN’s content and traffic have exceeded all expectations and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The site is still developing, and there is certainly room to increase public participation. With additional interactive features and an expanded multimedia section, KHN will likely prove to be an outstanding example of public media 2.0.
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