GBO NEWS: New AHCJ Age-Beat Editor; ASA Conference; IOM on Elder Abuse
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WITH APOLOGIES FOR THIS INCONVENIENCE,
Paul Kleyman
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations
April 2, 2013 — Volume 13, Number 7
IN THIS ISSUE: GBO Doodles – Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Jr. (45 years Thursday), Jesus, Moses. Roger Ailes with a red rubber nose?
1. GEN BEATLES NEWS: ***Liz Seegert replaces Judith Graham as New Leader of Age Section on Health Journalists’ Website; ***Barbara Peters-Smith on starting a blog on aging; ***Gary Rotstein’s five-years writing on one Alzheimer’s patient; ***Bette Dewing on obits of former NY Mayor Ed Koch; ***Filipino Press columnist Aurora Soriano-Cudal inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame.
2. THE CONFERENCE BEAT: ***Warren Wolfe reports on “Trying to Cover the American Society on Aging Without a Net”; *** “Elder Abuse and Its Prevention,” free Institute of Medicine Web Workshop, April 17-18; ***UCLA’s Latinos and Economic Security Project Releases Conference Issues Summary
3. FISCAL REFORM SCHOOL: *** Will President Obama Propose Social Security Cuts in His Budget Next Week? (The NY Times says that’s a bad idea); *** “Why Innovators Get Better With Age.
4. THE GEN BEAT BOOK NOOK: *** Rightsizing Your Life author Ciji Ware publishes a new novel, That Summer in Cornwall; Carol Orsborn’s 21st book is Fierce With Age.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The new GBO News marks the 20th year of the Journalists Network on Generations. Click through the table of contents to the full “GBO News” blog. This format is “scaleable” for computer, e-pad or mobile device, and you can post comments directly. If you have technical problems receiving issues of GBO News or if you’d like to be removed from the list, simply auto-reply to this e-mail, or phone me at 415-503-4170 ext. 133 (e-mail: pkleyman@newamericamedia.org). GBO especially thanks Sandy Close of New America Media, and our cyber-guru, Kevin Chan.
1. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** Liz Seegert is the new editor of the Association of Health Care Journalist’s (AHCJ) section on aging. Aging is one of a short list of “core topics” to which the association devotes an entire website. Seegert will aggregate and write about studies, data, trends and key concepts, as well as being the point person on aging for association members.
She replaces Judith Graham, who inaugurated and developed the section and is now mostly writing for the New York Times’ “New Old Age” blog [http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com], working with the website’s editor Paula Span. Graham told GBO, that besides the blog and some other freelancing, she’s “turning my attention to a long simmering book proposal.”
Based in New York City, Seegert comes to the new position with more than 25 years in print, broadcast, and digital media, covering an array of consumer and professional health topics, with an emphasis on aging and related issues, such as chronic disease, health policy and aging-in-place. As a senior fellow at the Center for Health, Media & Policy at Hunter College in Manhattan, she focuses on older adults and the digital divide. Among those she’s written for are Kaiser Health News, New America Media, Women magazine, Home Care Technology Report and The Atlantic online. She is a regular contributor to the HealthCetera, blog and the “HealthStyles” radio show (WBAI/Pacifica).
Seegert holds a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University and a master’s in social policy (healthcare concentration) from Empire State College, State University of New York.
She noted that journalists have to join AHCJ to access content in the website’s core-topics sections or contribute to any of them. As GBO News has said before, the annual dues are modest enough for any writer on aging – whether or not your major concentration is health care – to sign up, if your stories touch on health care and related social issues even semi-regularly. GBO regulars can reach her at liz@healthjournalism.org, or liz@lizseegert.com.
*** One recent example of what you’ll find in the AHCJ section on aging is a “Shared Wisdom” blog headlined, “You’re launching a new blog on aging. How are you going to approach that? Barbara Peters Smith, who writes on aging and health issues for Florida’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida, thoughtfully raises considerations she had when she recently “leaped at the chance to divide my health and aging beat with another reporter and concentrate more intensely on the pressing issues that concern baby boomers and their elders.” One thing she did was rename her existing blog from “Pulse” to “New Wrinkles” to begin “a more overt dialogue with the large segment of our readership that I’m writing about.” She notes that Sarasota provides a window on the nation’s elder future. Almost a third of the retirement community’s residents are age 65 and older.
*** In a longer background piece on the AHCJ elders section, veteran age-beat reporter/editor Gary Rotstein, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s, wrote of the advantages a journalist can have in following a story source over time—almost five years in the case he discussed. The piece, headlined “’A Life Hijacked:’ Long-term project documents man’s saga with Alzheimer’s,” describes how he and a staff colleague who handled the visual aspects of the series, followed the decline of a local man from his early diagnosis with Alzheimer’s.
Rotstein explains, “As a couple, the Romatowskis have been unflinching in baring their souls and difficulties. . . . Our goal has been to be sensitive as well as honest in showing Alan’s decline and its effect upon his primary caregiver. Does that sensitivity mean that I know more about the couple than what shows up in the newspaper? Yes.” He describes the challenges reporter may have in building a trusting relationship at length with sources, such as this couple, to balance off revealing what was important for the public to know with intimate but secondary knowledge of the subjects’ lives.
*** The recent death of former New York Mayor Ed Koch inspired Bette Dewing to write, “‘How’m I Doin’?’ in Late Life Is What Needs to Get Out There!” on the New York Press website. “How’m I doin’?” of course, was Koch’s famous invitation to one and all to give him feedback on life in the Big Apple under his leadership. But Dewing’s column aims the question at the media. She observes that Koch, who died at 88, had suffered from a range of serious conditions during his final decade. She adds, “His late years have been largely ignored in the lengthy obituaries that have appeared.” Rather than only addressing the glowing accomplishments of dignitaries, Dewing believes obituaries should not shy away from the difficulties confronting obit subjects in old age, in order to help raise awareness and find better ways to prevent and treat such problems.
*** Kudos to columnist on aging and news contributor Aurora Soriano-Cudal, of the Filipino Press. She was inducted into the San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame March 16, for her decades as an advocate for social justice and Filipino American empowerment. Cudal, a leading community-health educator in both the United States and the Philippines, attended the induction ceremony at the University of California, San Diego, with her husband of 58 years, Winlove A. Cudal. They have seven children, 20 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. People can reach Cudal at aurora.cudal@yahoo.com.
2. THE CONFERENCE BEAT
*** Trying to Cover the American Society on Aging Without a Net
By Warren Wolfe
For a journalist, the American Society of Aging (ASA) annual meeting always has been rich with story ideas and experts who can talk intelligently about issues, trends, programs, public policies and changes in aging.
I covered my first ASA in 1993, in Chicago, and there were enough journalists on hand for a group of us to decide to create what’s now called the Journalists Network on Generations. But covering this year’s conference March 12-16 (also in Chicago) was tougher than it used to be.
I’ve set about trying to change that for the 2014 conference next March in San Diego.
Unlike most important trade associations with national gatherings, ASA no longer offers any news media support aside from free access, although even that is harder to come by for some journalists these days. There no longer is a pressroom, or even any media-savvy ASA staff available to answer queries or help identify appropriate experts. That’s one reason less than a third as many journalists attend as in the past. (The peak was in 2008, when there were 102 press registrants.) And there are far fewer reporters for daily news media.) In addition, fewer news outlets pay for such travel, and some reporters who might attend ASA instead are drawn to the Association of Health Care Journalists, held the same week this year in Boston.)
Still, the gathering remains a rich environment for journalists, who can use ASA’s online conference tool to sort through the daily schedule and identify sessions and speakers to track down.
This year, ASA had 27 people registered as journalists, although at least four did not attend. After I inquired about opportunities for reporters to gather at ASA, I was given a list of those who registered by a very helpful Jutka Mandoki, manager of member relations, the closest position ASA has to a media contact.
I sent e-mails to all on the list, and 16 of us met for a couple of hours in a borrowed meeting room to introduce ourselves and talk about why we were there. Most represented specialty publications, with a sprinkling of authors, newspaper reporters and columnists, as well as people working on special projects for public radio and public television. All said they would have used a pressroom to meet sources, conduct interviews, write stories, do research and just decompress between sessions.
So that’s my goal for next year: to convince ASA officials that they can more effectively reach the millions of older Americans and their families by providing a small amount of support for the journalists who cover issues of aging.
Tackling that is a bit easier for me now. As noted in the last GBO News, I retired at the end of March as a staff writer at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minn., although I expect to continue writing about issues of aging, with special emphasis on retirement and caregiving.
I’ve asked the journalists who were registered for ASA if they wish to attach their names to a short letter I will send soon to ASA officials asking for a pressroom at next year’s conference.
Any other journalists who wish to sign on can send me an e-mail note before April 15 at warren.wolfe11@gmail.com.
*** “Elder Abuse and its Prevention” will be a free workshop by the Institute of Medicine, April 17-18, from 8 a.m. to late afternoon Eastern both days. The workshop will be webcast and available to view via the Internet. Reporters can look over the agenda online to tag sessions and speakers you may want to see and hear. The program will involve many of the biggest and best names in the field. Although there’s no charge (it’s your tax dollars at work), people do need to register ahead of time, either for the online access or to attend live. Those links are on the website.
The IOM website states, “Violence and related forms of abuse against elders is a global public health and human rights problem with far-reaching consequences, resulting in increased death, disability, and exploitation with collateral effects on well-being. Data suggest that at least 10 percent of elders in the United States are victims of elder maltreatment every year. In low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of violence is the greatest, the figure is likely even higher. . . . However, despite the magnitude of global elder maltreatment, it has been an underappreciated public health problem.”
*** “Aging in a Majority-Minority Nation: Interracial and Intergenerational Tensions and Opportunities,” was a conference held March 21 by the Latinos and Economic Security (LES) Project at UCLA’s Center for Policy Research on Aging. On Monday the center circulated a Power Point on the issues covered. Although Power Points aren’t great unlinked from what experts actually said, such as via a recording or transcripts, this one could prove useful for reporters looking at multicultural aspects of the aging of the boomer population, especially since Latinos have emerged as a significant presence in U.S. politics and culture.
Key points include:
- The U.S. has an aging population that is largely white and a growing Latino workforce that is supporting current retirees;
- Latinos 65+ depend heavily on Social Security for their retirement income;
- Education and citizenship are key to economic security;
- Investing in the education and development of the workers of tomorrow is critical for the well-being of the U.S.
The UCLA researchers, led by former U.S. Administration on Aging head Fernando Torres-Gil, could provide authoritative interviews about the Hispanic impact on these and related topics. The communications point person to contact to arrange interviews is Max Benavidez, 310-200-2682, maxbenavidez@gmail.com.
4. FISCAL REFORM SCHOOL
*** Will President Obama Propose Social Security Cuts in his budget next week? The New York Times’ top editorial Sunday (March 31) calls it a bad idea. According to “Social Security, Present and Future,” the president has considered using, as a bargaining chip with the GOP, the so-called chained CPI (Consumer Price Index) to reduce the long-term growth rate of the program’s annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which helps seniors keep up with inflation. But the effect over the years would be to squeeze the already meager income security of very old and vulnerable people.
The Times editorial states, “The president might want to seem like he is willing to compromise by renewing his call for a COLA cut. But Republicans already spurned his offer and are unlikely to take him up on it now. They are more likely to paint him as a foe of Social Security, which would be reinforced by Democrats’ opposition to the cut.”
Meanwhile, the piece continues, “The nation is having a retirement crisis. Even before the recession, people had not saved enough to make up for the loss of traditional pensions. The downturn and slow recovery have made things worse. Less than half of household’s ages 55 to 64 have retirement savings, and of those, half have less than $120,000. Many near-retirees also have lost home equity or a job. All that will leave most retirees heavily reliant on Social Security, which currently pays a modest benefit.”
Because Social Security has its own funding through payroll taxes and cannot by law borrow money from the federal treasury, it should not be cut in the name of debt reduction. It does not contribute to the National Debt. Instead, recommends the NYT Editorial Board, Congress should make the modest but necessary long-term financing adjustments to strengthen Social Security’s solvency within the program, not as part of political deal-making.
*** What About Those Jobs? Over on the Sunday Times business section, we spotted “Why Innovators Get Better With Age.”. Columnist Tom Agan begins by noting “many companies are intentionally reducing the average age of their work forces in an effort to save money. Younger employees are generally paid less and have lower health care expenses and retirement costs.”
CEO’s might foster images of garage or college-dorm inventors, such as Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple or the latest techno-whiz kid, Nick D’Aloisio, 17. The latter will probably earn $30 million from the new deal Yahoo just made with him for his news-reading app.
But Agan goes on, “There is a surprising downside, however, to encouraging older workers to leave or, at some companies, pushing them out: Less gray hair sharply reduces an organization’s innovation potential, which over the long term can greatly outweigh short-term gains.” He explains that corporate managers need to take into account the “time it takes between the birth of an idea and when its implications are broadly understood and acted upon. . . . If an organization wants innovation to flourish, the conversation needs to change from severance packages to retention bonuses. Instead of managing the average age downward, companies should be managing it upward.”
4. THE GEN BEAT BOOK NOOK
***Downton Abbey devotees might enjoy That Summer in Cornwall, the latest book by—take a deep breath and say “bestselling historical novelist, reporter, writer, lecturer, on-air host, and Emmy-award winning television producer” Ciji Ware.
If you’re not impressed yet – even by her Harvard degree in history—GBO can add that we like her, too.
Ware, who just turned 70, is joining the ranks of oft-published authors joining the do-it-yourself crowd. She and husband Tony Cook are now author/publishers via Lion’s Paw Publishing/Life Events Media LLC.
The aging connection is that her last non-fiction tome Rightsizing Your Life: Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most (Hachette Book Group/Springboard Press) “is still going strong, and I speak around the country on prospects for Active Adult, Continuing Care, Assisted Living communities with the message ,”You CAN do this–downsize that house you’ve been in 45 years!” Ware’s infectious enthusiasm was shared by the Wall Street Journal, which named the volume one of its Top 5 books on retirement issues in 2007. (The book is available in print and as an e-book through most of the usual outlets. Check out the website: www.rightsizingyourlife.com.)
That Summer in Cornwall, which Ware says is sort of Downton Abbey in modern dress, is a sequel to her New York Times bestseller, A Cottage by the Sea (Random House/Ballantine, 1997; Sourcebook 2010). Could be a good summer read for many (maybe even you). Tap into her website: www.cijiware.com/downton-abbey-in-2013/. She can send journalists a review copy in just about any medium, print or electronic, except maybe shadow puppets. Drop her a request at cijiware@gmail.com, or try the office at 415 332 9911.
*** Fierce with Age is Carol Orsborn’s 21st book for or about boomers. Subtitled Chasing God and Squirrels in Brooklyn, Turner Publishing will release it on Mother’s Day (May 7), but bound galleys are available to interested journalists now. Unlike many of her other books, such as Vibrant Nation: What Boomer Women 50+ Know, Think, Do and Buy (2010), or The Year I Saved My (downsized) Soul: A Boomer Woman’s Search for Meaning…and a Job (2009), the new book is her memoir about discovering, adjusting to and eventually celebrating the shock of being old. Orsborn, who holds a masters of theological studies and a doctorate in the history and critical theory of religion from Vanderbilt University, delves into her spiritual challenges of aging with honesty and a strong dose of humor. GBO News regulars can read an excerpt on the book’s website. Journalists can request a copy of the galleys from Lianna at Turner Publishing at liannamc@hotmail.com.
The Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), founded in 1993, publishes Generations Beat Online with in-kind support from New America Media (NAM). JNG provides information and networking opportunities for journalists covering generational issues, but not those representing services, products or lobbying agendas. NAM is an online, nonprofit news service reaching 3,000 ethnic media outlets in the United States. GBO readers are invited to visit the NAM website. Opinions expressed in GBO do not represent those of NAM. Copyright 2013, JNG. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
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If you have technical problems receiving issues of GBO or if you’d like to be removed from the list, e-mail me at pkleyman@newamericamedia.org or phone me at 415-503-4170 ext. 133.