Washington, D.C., February 8, 2021 – In its first year giving $1 million to journalism and research grantees, the NIHCM Foundation awarded 19 journalism grants in 2020. The current grants support work at both large and small multimedia outlets that reach a broad range of communities.

“This year’s expanded grant program will help health journalists meet the dual challenges of a greatly increased need for high-quality health reporting and the tremendous economic pressure on their profession. We are proud to invest in this powerful and informative work about how America is surviving, coping, and learning during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Nancy Chockley, Founding President and CEO of NIHCM.

The 2020 grantees are:

Fortune Media – America, the Pandemic, and the Most Vulnerable
The past few months have stretched America’s safety net to the breaking point and revealed huge deficits in needed resources. This longform series, with video and graphics, will look at how people in need of food, housing, work, and other resources are faring.

Healthcare Triage – Vaccines and Our Health
Vaccines have often played a critical role in health and medicine. This multimedia series will explore the genesis and use of the COVID-19 vaccine, perhaps the most important medical innovation of our time.

PBS NewsHour – Health After the Pandemic
We are just beginning to learn about COVID-19’s long-term effects on health. This two-part series for PBS’s NewHour, will bring together leading health experts to consider what might be next.

STAT – COVID-19 Testing
Accurate, accessible coronavirus testing is now key to public health. This series will combine investigative reporting with multimedia to explain important aspects of testing.

Vox – How collateral damage from COVID-19 is exacerbating health disparities
Disparities of all types have always been a part of life in America. This series looks at the many ways the pandemic may be worsening disparities for vulnerable groups already living with challenges such as poverty, lack of access to health care, mental health challenges, or chronic illness in the United States.

Bridge Michigan – COVID-19 and Health Care
How is Michigan’s health care system meeting the challenges of COVID-19 and what might other states learn from their experiences? This extensive digital series, with accompanying data, will analyze the health care system response and the local economy.

Connecticut Health Investigative Team – Impact of Hospital Consolidation on the Industry, Costs and Care
Independent clinics and hospitals are disappearing in America. This series will take a closer look at how increasing changes in how hospitals do business affects the cost and quality of care patients receive.

The Fuller Project – Women’s Health Disparities: Pandemic Impact
Women’s health needs are often poorly met, especially among Black and brown women. This investigative series will focus on how the pandemic has influenced issues such as maternal mortality, migrant women’s health, and women on the frontline.

Global Reporting Centre – The Medical Supply Market
Hospital gowns, masks and even gloves are suddenly unavailable across the United States. This interactive digital media project will answer tough questions about why personal protective equipment and other resources are often in short supply during the pandemic.

Retro Report – Racism and Mental Health in 2020
The racial awakening of 2020 in combination with the coronavirus underscored the impact of living with the trauma and stress of discrimination. This video documentary will offer expert analysis of trauma's impact on health, particularly for many people of color in America.

The Texas Tribune – Clearing Up COVID-19 Myths Across Language Barriers
Latinx communities are enduring disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 and more severe cases, but they still may not be receiving the highest quality information about staying healthy. This Spanish-language series will be distributed across 60 statewide radio, print, and other media to fill this gap.

Theresa Brown – Nursing During a Pandemic
Media coverage of the pandemic shone a spotlight on nurses' struggles and their centrality to quality care. This feature, created for the New York Times, will examine the United States nursing shortage, explain why COVID-19 is making that shortage worse, and argue that retaining nurses requires more fully supporting them going forward.

Tradeoffs – How Will the Pandemic Change the Health Care Industry
Almost every aspect of American life has been touched by the pandemic. This season of the Tradeoffs podcast will take a comprehensive look at how our health system may look once the COVID-19 crisis is over.

WBUR – The Pandemic and Children’s Mental Health
Children’s lives have been upended in myriad ways in recent months, from school closures to losing loved ones. This series will include experts in mental health and education on children’s behavioral health to explore the science on remedies and interventions.

Do No Harm Film – Physician Burnout and Suicide
Health care professionals have long experienced high levels of stress and burnout, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated the problem. Through virtual screenings and panel discussions, health care leaders and policymakers will discuss the challenges within our health care system and solutions for transforming the culture of medicine.

PROGRAMING TO EDUCATE HEALTH CARE JOURNALISTS

Alliance for Health Policy Webinar Series
These sessions for journalists address the COVID-19 crisis and health policy issues from a variety of perspectives, including academia, advocacy, the media and the private sector.

The Health Coverage Fellowship - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation
The fellowship is designed to help the media improve its coverage of critical health care issues – from health care costs, to mental illness, and public health threats.

Journalist’s Resource, a project of Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
Journalist’s Resource will produce resources to improve coverage of scientific and health policy research in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health crises.

USC Annenberg School for Communication, Center for Health Journalism Webinar Series
These webinars bring in leading researchers and reporters to help journalists understand and produce top quality work on COVID-19, systemic health inequities, and emerging health care topics.