The Health Blogosphere: What It Means for Policy Debates and Journalism:
The Kaiser Family Foundation is sponsoring a discussion about the growing influence of blogs on health news and policy debates. Only in the past few years has the blogosphere become mainstream. In the health policy arena, we now see policymakers, journalists, researchers and interest groups utilizing this new media tool to deliver information to their audiences. The briefing will highlight how the traditional health policy world has embraced blogging and will feature a keynote address by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, the first cabinet officer to author an official blog, followed by a moderated discussion with a variety of health policy bloggers and a media analyst.
Questions to be explored with the panelists include: Why do individuals and organizations blog? How does blogging impact the broader work of an organization? Are there different standards used when blogging versus other writing? Have blogs impacted the news business significantly? What kind of influence are blogs having on political and policy debates?
Unfortunately, the panel is heavily skewed toward Rightwing, Bush-loving, business-only types, with the brave exception of Ezra Klein.
Annie has a lot more information worth checking out. But you should tune in tomorrow at 1pm Eastern time and pitch in. Let's reframe their discussion so it actually gets honest.
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A million thanks, Coturnix, for the mention! What the public doesn't know because of incomplete and distorted health reportage does hurt them - indeed, all of us by impeding and stifling the ability to make informed decisions about individual health choices and about health policy.
I hope that the science, skeptic and progressive blogosphere communities can lend some evidence, reason nd logic to the discussion and move health reporting forward across media.