Gerontological Society: 14 Journalists Earn Aging-Focused Reporting Fellowships
They represent a wide range of general audience, ethnic, and community media outlets, including public radio and television affiliates, daily newspapers, and national publications. This year's group brings the program's total number of participating reporters to 170. The new fellows were chosen -- by a panel of gerontological and editorial professionals -- based on their proposals for an in-depth aging-focused story or series.
These projects, to be produced in 2020, span such concerns as cultural challenges in the
The participating journalists will convene during GSA's 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting -- scheduled for
"This program is unique in that it not only provides its participants with a first-rate educational overview of trends and new developments in the field, it does so at the country's largest gathering of researchers on aging," said
Kluss co-directs the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program together with
"While much of the media continues catering to youth markets, our fellowship program has helped inform the public of the twin stories of aging in America," Kleyman said. "At this time when we face a looming retirement crisis for elders and their families, our rapidly aging population also offers tremendous contributions to communities and the economy, contributions still to be fully tapped."
In
The new fellows:
Project: Three-part series on intergenerational family relations in the Arab American community of
Project: Four-part, Spanish language series (captioned in English), plus a half-hour special, on how nonprofits are helping impoverished older Puerto Ricans, many ineligible for benefits because they own homes --including those damaged by 2017's Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Project: As part of a documentary series on ageism, an examination of how a group of nuns challenge traditional notions of "successful aging" while living long, meaningful lives interdependently.
Project: Three-part series on a retirement challenges for Latinos in
Project: Three-part series on the physical and emotional effects of undocumented immigrants' journey to the
Project: "Aging in Place: Today's Prison Population," a two-part series in print and online on health and mental health issues for older prisoners reentering communities and their families, with a focus on model approaches by progressive law-enforcement agencies.
Project: How researchers can better meet the needs minority older adults, a group historically excluded from clinical dementia research despite their higher-than-average rates of dementia, and the fact that Alzheimer's disease may manifest differently in people of color.
Project: Two-part series on combatting elder abuse in
Project: An investigation of how the true cost of living, both for prime-age wage earners and those in long-term care, calls for a more realistic living wage threshold -- one that reflects what people need to be earning to ensure independence in old age in today's reality of wage stagnation and rising costs of basic necessities.
Project: Story package with video interviews on increasing loneliness among older adults in
Project: Two-part print series package with reporting, sidebars, and profiles, plus a public radio podcast on the disproportionate numbers of older homeless people on
Project: "Loneliness and its Linkage to Food for Aging Indian American Immigrants," underscoring the need for health care services to account for how access to traditional foods affects cultural beliefs and behaviors of older people, particularly in Indian cultures.
Project: A three-part series on the science, practical considerations, and social/ethical implications of radical life extension discoveries, such as emerging "rejuvenation technologies" and how they might promote widening social and cultural rifts.
Project: An investigation of whether older Virginians with mental illness or dementia who lack family and funds are receiving appropriate services or are being housed in psychiatric hospitals, despite legal requirements that they be placed in the least-restrictive settings.
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The Journalists Network on Generations, founded in 1993, is based in
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