Before you try the next good idea, interrogate it

News avoidance, fatigue and information overload raise big questions for local news leaders — about attention, trust, digital wellness, relevance, belonging and revenue. And those questions are playing out within a larger negotiation over how people want technology and information — including our lives as journalists — to fit into their lives. Recent Pew Research Center data found that 53% of Americans say they spend too much time on their smartphones and 45% have tried to cut back in the past year — even as 73% say their smartphone helps keep them informed.

Add to this that “avoidance” can stem from many different things: lack of relevance, friction, habit, distrust, competing priorities, emotional self-protection. A big label can tempt us into an overly broad or reactive response.

For leaders already operating with limited time, money and attention, the challenge is two-part: first, generating potential solutions to the problems, and then deciding which of those responses or ideas are worth acting on — and what they need to learn before they do.

READ MORE from American Press Institute

Behind the curtain of medical debt, here’s where reporters can look for stories on the national issue

Medical debt affects one in four people in the United States, yet there is a lack of transparency about the inner workings of the collection or billing of this type of debt, according to a Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing panel on Oct. 13. 

The panel, sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund and moderated by Noam Levey, a senior correspondent at KFF Health News, brought experts together to speak on the way medical debt is affecting Americans, and where reporters should look for stories.

About 63% of those with medical debt cut spending on everyday items like food and clothing, according to data Levey presented during the panel. 

“One of the most chilling things that we found was that 20% of people say they don’t expect to ever be able to pay it off,” Levey said.

READ MORE from The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism