CYBERTORIAL: Health writing is not for the faint hearted. Just as you wouldn’t ask your fashion writer to take on crime reporting, it’s unrealistic and self-defeating to expect someone who doesn’t know their BP from their CD4 to cover issues that are vital to your readers’ wellbeing.
Adele Baleta’s comprehensive, informative two-day Cape Town-based course will give your writers the edge when it comes to delivering credible, well-researched and original health related copy. For more information please see below.
Editors, don’t forget Denis Beckett’s outstanding workshop on writing memorable Opinion and Comment. Sharpen your brain and your pen while having more fun than you’ve had since way back when. Taking place on June 22, 23 in Johannesburg.
Workshops are facilitated by experienced journalists and specialists in their field.
July 05-06: Health Writing
Facilitator: Adele Baleta
One day coffee and red wine are good for you, the next day they’re not. How do you make sense of the continual bombardment of sciency-sounding claims and studies, and then report on them as breaking news? What is the lithmus test that will steer you through the confusion so you can tell stories that impact positively on people’s choices about their health
Who is this course for?
Freelance and fulltime reporters, in both the magazine and news media, wanting to break into health journalism, or to sharpen their skills in this exciting and important field.
What you will discover
- Evidence-based medicine and the scientific method
- How to write stories that people will read
- How to develop contacts and story ideas
- The A-Z of clinical trials
- How to be an ethical health journalist and how to spot unethical health practitioner
- How to investigate dodgy claims and how to detect pseudoscience
- How to read scientific papers and how to deal with “lies, damn lies and statistics”
- Reporting on infectious diseases in South Africa (eg HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis) and Immunisation
- Chronic illnesses including cancer and diabetes.
This course will have practical components.
About the trainer
Adele Baleta is an award-winning science and health journalist, editor and trainer. Her work as an independent writer includes being a correspondent for the prestigious Lancet medical journal. Passionate about making science more accessible to the public, she has facilitated media training workshops for both journalists and scientists including for the IAJ, the SA Agency for Science and Technology Advancement, the World Health Organisation and UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine. Adele has a Master of Philosophy Degree in Science & Technology Journalism from the University of Stellenbosch.
Contact us now to book for the courses that will take you or your staff to the next level. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on our website, or you would like an in-house course tailored to your publication’s specific needs, please contact our Writing Unit Manager Shelagh Foster on 011 484 1765, write@iaj.org.za <mailto:write@iaj.org.za> to discuss your requirements.
PLEASE NOTE Discounts are available 10% for freelancers and community journalist 15% for SAFREA members
