Students cover immigrant communities during global-health reporting class
Multimedia Intern
May 5, 2011
In 2008, the UW Department of Communication successfully sponsored “Covering Global Health,” a conference that drew the attention and interest of many journalists. This was when Jim Simon, the assistant managing editor of the Seattle Times, and Roger Simpson, a professor in the Department of Communication, decided to begin a class that would address the trends of local and global health reporting. This idea gave birth to COM 458: Reporting Global Health. During the class, students tackle the issue of global-health reporting by approaching and reporting the health stories of local immigrant communities.
One goal of the class is to have the students produce professional pieces that can be printed, said Simon, recalling an article from last year’s class that was recently published in the Seattle Times.
The class also has its own website, http://www.healthintersections.org, which features student work, in addition to news regarding current global health trends, as well as the conditions of research and education in the local area.
Simon said the first challenge instructors encountered was deciding what tasks to give to students. A lot of reporting work was happening in Africa, where health diseases and medical issues were most prevalent. What can a class in Seattle offer its students? It was then that they were reminded of the rich immigrant culture in Seattle. To Jim Simon, when health diseases such as AIDS are also reflected in our immigrant communities, the issue of health reporting suddenly became relevant to our region. Joanne Silberner, a spring 2011 instructor of the class, said, “We can always find problems nearby that mimic other problems and issues on a global level,” and that is why she finds this class vital to the community of Seattle. She said it recognizes us as global citizens, not isolated societies.
This quarter, students of Reporting Global Health have chosen a range of immigrant communities to cover, including: a resettled population of Somali Bantus, a soccer league for immigrants, and a prominent Hispanic community in Seattle. By approaching these immigrant communities, Simon said, students not only get to report on health-care issues in-depth, but are challenged as reporters to cross the cultural barriers between themselves and immigrants. Simon is co-instructing the class this spring and he also helps to connect students to local community guides who assist the students during their reporting.
The experience allows student reporters to enter unfamiliar cultural settings, and in doing so, the reporters would not be able to pull on their similarities to try to fit into the community. “This teaches the students a few things,” Silberner explained. Reporters are required to lean on their communication skills to interact with the subjects of their stories. This greatly enhances the reporters’ interview techniques. Silberner said these experiences prepare students to operate through difficulties, as well as report under any condition.
Besides a cuturally enriching reporting experience and a nice portfolio, students are also working to inform and involve the public about issues that are ongoing in the rest of the world. Silberner said journalism gives the public knowledge and enables people to act upon that knowledge. Through their encounters with local immigrant communities, the students of Reporting Global Health learn to become the voice of the voiceless. They learn to notice and absorb what the public overlooks. They thrive and produce professional works while fulfilling the role of journalists.
