Why did the fellowship program change in 2005?
After ten years of operating our fellowship program for health journalists, the Kaiser Family Foundation began a review of our U.S. health journalism programs to take into account changes in the news business and the health beat. The question was not whether to maintain our fellowship program, but what form this should take. This new program will maintain the most successful elements of our U.S. health journalism programs, while incorporating changes to make the fellowship more flexible for journalists wanting to apply, but needing to juggle newsroom responsibilities. We hope that this more flexible program will make it easier for a broader group of journalists to participate—such as senior editors, newsroom managers, as well as television reporters and producers and online journalists—who are currently unable to leave their newsroom jobs for the lengthier fellowships our programs entailed previously.
