Internews Network, Panos Institute London and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) have launched the pilot phase of the Health Journalism Partnership (HJP), to build better health journalism in countries with the most acute public health crises.
The Health Journalism Partnership will raise awareness of the capacity development needs of journalists to report accurately and well on public health issues. Around the world, public health policies, attitudes on disease and disability, and health-related behavior are greatly influenced by media coverage. In developing countries, local broadcast media are the main source of public health information for rural populations, but health journalism remains poor due to lack of resources for broadcast media, low status given to health coverage by media outlets, lack of training for journalists, and limited access to public information. The HJP will address some the most important questions concerning the state of global health journalism such as:
- What makes for effective health journalism?
- Who is supporting health journalism capacity development and how?
- How does effective health journalism influence public health challenges?
The Health Journalism Partnership will document the resources available for the development of better health journalism through training programs, support services and institutions. It will make small grants, analyze media management commitment to coverage of health issues, maximize donor effectiveness globally in nurturing better health journalism, and solicit funding from interested donors for a more concerted program of support.
In its first year, the HJP will focus on:
Mapping / Developing a Database of Global Health Journalism Capacity Development
The HJP will build a comprehensive, global database of organizations that have provided support and assistance to professional journalists on health coverage. More in-depth research will be carried out in targeted countries, to identify unmet needs and develop case-studies of where health journalism has made a difference
Creating the HJP Small Grant Fund
A Small Grants Program within the HJP will provide grants of up to $10,000 for in-country journalist associations, media outlets, and media training organizations that demonstrate the need and ability to improve and promote coverage of key health issues. HJP’s small grants will provide support for: local travel for story research and coverage; training programs for media professionals; equipment to support expanded health programming and/or training; support to partnerships between NGOs and journalists and networks at the country level; monitoring and evaluation of existing health journalism capacity development; and research on the impact of health journalism
Catalyzing Support Among Private/Public Donors and International Health Organizations
The HJP will use strategic opportunities to involve donors and implementing public health organizations. In the past decade, global funding to address critical health issues such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and childhood diseases has grown considerably. Public and private sector funding has targeted primarily medical and health interventions, neglecting media development. Everyday constraints and lack of resources and support have limited the capacity development of journalists in many developing countries. The HJP will raise the profile of, and advocate for, the critical role journalists play in communicating public health information to local audiences.
The Health Journalism Partnership pilot phase is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Open Society Institute.
During the first year, a series of roundtables and dialogues will aim to galvanize interested donors to support the development of the partnership beyond its pilot phase.