Reporting Health Research: Connecting Journalists and TB Researchers in Zambia

This case study, published by Panos London, shares recommendations and lessons learned during a communications project to improve media reporting on tuberculosis (TB) in Zambia. Project partners Relay and the health research consortium TARGETS brought together journalists and TB researchers in Zambia to explore stigma around TB and to explore areas of potential conflict and collaboration. Health researchers then acted as expert advisers to journalists, who produced a series of national newspaper articles and radio programmes on both national and community radio. According to the report, the overall findings show that long-term investment in improving the communication skills of both journalists and researchers is needed to produce lasting change in the quality of public health reporting in Zambia. The development of relationships between journalists and researchers is essential to this, and intermediaries such as Relay can facilitate the early stages of this process.

The report explains that twenty journalists and eight researchers who took part in a two-day workshop in 2009 identified four major obstacles to better-quality health and TB reporting in Zambia.

• Journalists said they did not know where to get the reliable and useful information they needed. They also found it difficult to access researchers and research organisations, who are often wary of talking to journalists and developing relationships with them. Where research is available, they said it was not usually published in an easy-to-understand, jargon-free form.
• In a focus group session carried out during the workshop with seven of the journalist participants, those who had journalism degrees said their courses involved no coursework assignments or modules on specialist issues except for business and politics. Without specific research-interpretation skills, there is a danger that journalists will misreport scientific findings.
• Journalists said that editors were focused on politics and business, and that there was little support to report on health issues. Scandal is often favoured over more serious, fact-based reporting.
• During the workshop, it became clear that journalists themselves believed many of the common misconceptions about TB transmission.

The report adds that an additional barrier to health reporting that journalists do not always mention, and are usually unaware of, is the limited capacity of research organisations to promote their research findings. Many public policy researchers and research organisations recognise their responsibility to get their findings into the public domain to inform policymaking and the public at large. However, research organisations rarely see the media as a natural collaborator. There can be a number of reasons for this, but it is largely due to the lack of professional engagement between the two professional groups. Relay has found that professional mistrust between the two groups is one of the major obstacles to communicating research effectively through media channels. A lack of understanding about the demands and priorities of each others' professions is another obstacle.

According to the report, the capacity building of journalists to report on research began in the workshop but needed to be strengthened through ongoing mentoring, editorial support, and relationships with researchers. One-on-one mentoring of journalists involved in the fellowships took place over a period of three to six months. This process involved helping journalists to ask the right questions and supporting them to interpret research. Journalists participating in the scheme shared draft media coverage and made suggestions for improving each others' work. Researchers learned how to identify the key messages relating to their findings, to use plain language, and to be patient with the demands of journalists. Both journalists and researchers emphasised the benefits of the new relationships they developed during the workshop and fellowships.

The report outlines the following as outcomes from the Relay and TARGETS initiative:

• Four articles and five radio programmes reached more than 500,000 people combined.
• Journalist Evans Zyuulu received "overwhelming" feedback on his Radio Christian Voice programme on TB and nutrition in rural areas, including many solutions suggested by listeners.
• Some journalists gained new motivation and confidence; for example, one explained his intention to work with his manager to overcome public ignorance about TB transmission.
• Two journalist fellows worked with the Zambia AIDS Related TB (ZAMBART) project researchers to produce a 45-minute programme on TB with participant questions and answers. The programme was aired on the main radio station ZNBC and was syndicated to community radio stations recommended by the journalist fellows.
• Community radio stations recognised the value of having a product that can be used with very little preparation; they continue to broadcast the programmes.

The document shares a number of recommendations made by Relay for any future models or investments to support skills and relationship building between the media and researchers:

• use a relationship broker: skilled intermediaries, such as Relay and communications staff in research organisations, are invaluable in designing interventions that are relevant to the needs and perspectives of journalists and researchers and in facilitating ongoing interaction between them;
• focus journalists on what they do best, enabling them to tell stories based on complex data simply, rather than trying to give them a degree-level course in research in two days;
• give journalists access to researchers to enable them to connect with holders of valuable information for reporting on specialist issues;
• provide journalists with access to people who experience the issue in question to conduct interviews, put a human face on the issue, and find research stories that are compelling to wider audiences;
• provide journalists with reference material to allow them to check facts and tackle common misconceptions or ignorance about key issues;
• provide researchers with support to package and communicate their key messages and engage with journalists (research organisations should invest in skilled staff to perform this function if they are interested in improving the media's capacity to report research effectively to wider audiences);
• provide journalists and researchers with ongoing support (three months minimum) to facilitate lasting relationships;
• expect bumps along the way: the mutual frustrations journalists and researchers experience often reflect structural and professional differences in ways of working that require patience and understanding to overcome; and
• invest more in audience research to show editors that media consumers want more reliable health information.