498
Views
4
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Perceived Health Reporting Knowledge and News Gathering Practices of Health Journalists and Editors at Community Newspapers

&
Pages 205-213 | Published online: 13 Feb 2017
 

Abstract

This research adds to our understanding of health and science reporting by identifying and examining the numbers, types, and simultaneous uses of resources selected by health and science journalists and editors at the initial stages of reporting, and relates this to journalists’ perceived health reporting knowledge. A telephone survey of 141 health and science journalists and editors selected from 259 community newspapers in Missouri was conducted. Information sources included those that were highly credible, easy to access, already vetted by peers, and that enabled habitual reporting. Though the majority used multiple sources to generate story ideas, about one-third of respondents used no information sources. Journalists and editors’ perceived health reporting knowledge acted as a trigger in prompting more reliance on a wider diversity of information sources, greater use of empirical evidence in health stories, and more time spent researching/writing health stories. Implications for community news organizations include education to improve actual and perceived knowledge of journalists on health and science information gathering.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 215.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.