Statement of Editorial Independence
The Rules of Engagement and Our Community Code
My Profile and Uploading Content
What is Center for Health Journalism Digital?
Center for Health Journalism Digital offers readers original and objective explanatory and investigative news and commentary by experts and its community members. It focuses on health and medical issues ranging from Beltway or state health policy to reporting on how environment, poverty and race contribute to good health or ill health, to best practices in health care delivery and medicine. Along the way our site helps to inform and spark health policy conversations and great health journalism – all with the larger aim of better health outcomes for our nation’s communities. The site is a project of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, which offers resources and Fellowships for journalists. One of its primary aims is to spur an interdiciplinary public conversation on public health and health policy.
Statement of Editorial Independence
As an independent news project at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism, we make changes or corrections to published content when warranted due to errors of fact. We do not change content outside of instances of verifiable factual inaccuracy.
Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.
We accept gifts and grants from foundations, individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.
Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage.
We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.
We will make public all donors who give $5,000 or more per year. We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News:
What should I do if I have technical problems with the site?
Please let us know right away by going to our feedback page or email Chinyere Amobi, our community editor.
How do I contact the Center for Health Journalism Digital staff?
Call (213) 821-8826 during normal business hours or email editor@centerforhealthjournalism.org.
Contributors to the site and those interesting in joining our community are invited to become members. Click here to join. Fill out the required fields marked with an asterisk. It's fast, easy and free!
Who can become a member?
Membership is open to anyone interested in joining our online community. Contributors must meet our code of conduct and unsolicited submissions are reviewed in advance by our editorial team.
How can I create or update my Community Profile?
Log in. Click on "My Profile" on the upper right of your screen. Then fill in the blanks, upload a photo and make sure to save your updates. The save button is located in the bottom right hand section of the page, under the "Extra Info" section.
What are the rules of engagement?
Center for Health Journalism Digital has a community code which we ask all members and potential contributors to read and follow. This is a place of learning and sharing for people who care about health policy, public health, journalism and information. The editors of this site reserve the right to delete content that does not further this conversation and pre-review all content. We welcome you to participate in this community by commenting, sharing your work and profile, and we encourage you to consider our guidelines to help create a productive space.
How do I ensure my personal information is secure?
Information you provide on your profile will only be viewable to members of the site. We will not share your information with outside third parties or vendors. Please see the our privacy policy for more information.
How do I sign up for the weekly e-mail newsletter?
Click here to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter, which is full of the latest commentary and news, investigative health journalism tips and resources for covering timely stories. Or, you can find the email sign-up button link at the top right hand corner of every page of the site.
My Profile and Uploading Content
How do I upload my stories to my profile?
All content submitted to CenterforHealth Journalism.org must be submitted for prior approval by our editorial team. Before uploading a story to your profile, you need to make sure to obtain the proper rights. If you own the story and would like to display it on our site, we welcome you to do so. If your news organization owns the story, please obtain permission to upload it to our site.
When you are logged into the site, click on "My Profile," a link on the top right of the navigation bar. The fields with red asterisks are required fields. If your story has a sidebar, you can enter that information into the sidebar section of the form. It allows for one photo.
If you are a regular member of the site, in the field marked "Project Type," select "Story."
You can copy and paste the text from your story into the text boxes, and use the WYSIWYG editor to format it. You are able to bold, underline, and italicize, as well as include hyperlinks, and insert photos, among a range of other formatting options available.
If your story requires a lot of formatting, under "Input format," select the radio button marked "Full HTML." This will give you the widest range of options and control over the look and feel of your story.
If you are a broadcaster, you can upload MP3 audio files and/or video files with .wmv, .flv, .rmv extensions at the bottom of the form. There are two sections, "Audio" and "Video" that allow you to upload the files and associated photos. You are not required to upload text, although, providing a description about what your project is about may be helpful to members of the site who browse through.
When you are done uploading and filling out the form, be sure to select a button regarding rights to the story before clicking "Submit."
Where did the terms on my profile under "Most common tags" come from?
These tags are generated from the stories and projects you have shared on the site. If you feel they are innaccurate, you can go back into the content you have created and change the tags there. The tags on your profile will reflect your updated tags on your content.
What are the Health Journalism Fellowships?
The Fellowships are all-expenses-paid programs offered by the USC Center for Health Journalism at the Annenberg School, the umbrella organization for our content site. The Center educates journalists on best practices in health journalism, with a particular focus on community health topics. These competitive fellowships also provide reporting grants of up to $10,000 and mentoring for six months on ambitious Fellowship projects that participants are required to complete as part of the program. To learn more about all of the Center for Health Journalism's current program offerings, click here or contact cahealth@usc.edu.
How do I apply for a fellowships program?
If you a working professional journalist who regularly produces or writes for a news outlet, you are eligible to apply for our program. More specific criteria for each of our fellowship programs are outlined in the Fellowships section of our site. For application materials, check out the How to Apply page. Or write Martha Shirk at CAHealth@USC.edu with specific questions.
How do I upload my fellowship project to the fellowship story showcase? (Fellows only)
Please email your Fellowship project to Ryan White, CHJ's content editor, at editor@centerforhealthjournalism.org, along with a piece of illustrative art for each article in a series.
Can I write for your site?
We believe everyone benefits when members share ideas, inspiration, stories and suggestions with each other. First, please fill out your profile so people know who you are. You can then submit a post once your membership is approved by a moderator. Please keep in mind our Community Code. We reserve the right to edit and review all submissions before they are published.
While we welcome submissions aimed at our audience of professional health journalists, policy makers and the broader health community, we do not publish direct-to-consumer and/or advertorial content (this includes posts designed to offer advice, information or guidance to patients).
Center for Health Journalism Digital also commissions essays on critical topics in health care and health journalism. After reading the content on Center for Health Journalism Digital, feel free to share your ideas for essays or resource guides by contacting content editor Ryan White.
I'd like to see information about a certain topic on your site. Who can I contact?
We welcome your ideas and suggestions for the site at our feedback page, or email editor [at] centerforhealthjournalism [dot] org.