Anatomy of a Healthcare Reporter

The following post is from Robert Polzoni.

As newspapers continue to layoff and cut back staff due to declining readership and revenue, journalists are using other venues to report their stories and reach more readers in this age of new media.

I recently received an email from Emily Hagedorn, health care reporter for the Bakersfield Californian. Over the years we’ve worked with Emily on a number of important health care stories in California’s Kern County.

For the past two years Emily has been reporting on her Bakersfield.com blog called “The Pulse.” There, from time to time, she posts breaking news, information that didn’t make the newspaper and links to interesting stories. Readers can comment on her blog and offer suggestions for other postings from Emily by emailing her or calling her.

Emily notes in her email that the newest addition is a Twitter page for “The Pulse.” A Twitter page is like a mini-blog in which users post short bursts of information in 140 characters or less. She indicates she will use this page to post updates on what she’s working on, breaking news, and links to other health stories.

Many reporters, like Emily, are using tools such as blogs, Twitter pages, Facebook and podcasts. Savvy public relations professionals, who can adapt to the rapid changes in reporting news and utilize these new venues, have a distinct advantage in telling their organization’s story.