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2007 Awards Programs The ASA Media Awards recognize journalists whose work has had an exceptional impact on public awareness of issues related to aging at the local or regional levels. 2007 MEDIA AWARDS NATIONAL MEDIA
Susan Dentzer
Washington, DC
Susan Dentzer receives her award for a two-part series that examines our current understanding of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease, efforts under way to speed treatments to patients, and the enormous burden faced by caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. The caregiver story was conveyed by focusing on particular family member, former TV journalist Meryl Comer, whose husband, Harvey Gralnick, a former physician and scientist with the National Institutes of Health, has suffered from Alzheimer’s for the past 12 years. Dentzer and the health unit are the recipients of multiple awards. The unit's December 2005 and April 2005 pieces, "Wounded Soldier" and "Wounded Warrior," about a paralyzed and brain damaged soldier who was severely wounded in Iraq, won the 2005 Award for Excellence in Health Care Journalism from the Association of Health Care Journalists. The same pieces also earned both a CINE Golden Eagle and New York Festival award. Dentzer's October 2004 Health Unit piece, "Osteoporosis," received a first-place Gracie Allen award for public television news from American Women in Radio and Television. Her two part investigative series on importation of prescription drugs, broadcast in March 2004, earned a second place prize for radio and television programming from the American Health Journalists Association. Coverage in 2002 of the "Eden Alternative" approach to nursing home reform garnered a 2003 Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. And a 1999 report on schizophrenia earned the 2000 earned the 2000 Robinson Electronic Media Award from the American Psychiatric Association. Prior to joining The NewsHour in 1998, Dentzer was chief economics correspondent and economics columnist for U.S. News & World Report, where she served from 1987 to 1997. In a series of columns and stories for U.S. News, she reported extensively on the debate over reforming and partially "privatizing" Social Security and over such health policy issues as regulation of managed care. Before joining U.S. News, Dentzer was at Newsweek, where she was a senior writer covering business news until 1987. Dentzer's work in television has included appearances as a regular analyst or commentator on ABC's Nightline, CNN and The McLaughlin Group. Dentzer's writing has also earned her several fellowships. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard University for the 1986-87 academic year, she studied health economics and other disciplines. A U.S.-Japan Leadership Program Fellow in 1991, Dentzer conducted research on U.S.-Japan economic relations and the effects of the aging Japanese population. Dentzer is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Rescue Committee, the nonprofit organization that works in relief, rehabilitation, protection, post-conflict development and resettlement services for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression worldwide. At IRC, Dentzer heads the Board's Health Committee, which oversees the organization's health programs in 25 countries. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Health Council, the world's largest membership organization of groups involved in global health, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Japan Society of New York. She chairs the advisory board of the California Health Benefits Review Committee and is a member of the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research. Dentzer is also on the board of directors of the Friends of the National Institute for Nursing Research. A graduate of Dartmouth, Dentzer holds an honorary Master of Arts degree from Dartmouth and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio. She is a member of the Board of Overseers of Dartmouth Medical School. Previously, she served on the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees from 1993 to June 2004 and was the first woman ever to serve as Chair of Dartmouth's board from 2001 to 2004. She is also a former trustee of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, having served in that capacity until 2004. Dentzer, her husband and their three children live in the Washington D.C. area.
LOCAL & REGIONAL MEDIA
Lini S. Kadaba and Rita Giordano
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Lini S. Kadaba and Rita Giordano inaugurated the Quality of Life beat at the Philadelphia Inquirer. It takes in a broad range of issues that have led to trend and enterprise stories, including the four-part series, “A Rude Awakening” the 2007 Local/Regional Media Award winning submission. The idea grew from a conversation the reporters had about their aging parents who live in the suburbs and the difficulties they faced day to day. From that seed, the two developed stories that give a glimmer of the future challenges facing the suburbs through the tales of older people struggling today, as well as through statistics and interviews with dozens of officials. In addition to the main stories, the series included multi-media material, sidebars that highlighted innovative programs and a poll on what to call aging boomers who despise the “senior citizen” label. Our stories hit a chord, with more than 150 readers responding. As a direct result of the series, a local board that oversees housing for the elderly in Philadelphia started the Farnese Symposium to explore solutions to issues of aging in the region. The Oct. 30 program brought together policy makers, including Pennsylvania’s Secretary on Aging, as well as legislators, health-care organizations and providers of services. Kadaba and Giordano were recognized at the function. A graduate of the University of Kentucky (Phi Beta Kappa) and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Kadaba began her career at the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1986, covering neighborhood schools. Over the years, she has had enterprise beats that include social services, worklife and children and family. In 1998, Kadaba took first place in the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors Award contest for an in-depth profile of a pregnant teenager who was grappling with her choices. In 1994, she was a finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists for a magazine story on mainstreaming special education students. Her work also has appeared in college anthologies, including America Now and Mirror on America. Kadaba lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband and 10-year-old son. Giordano has been a staff writer with the Philadelphia Inquirer since 1995. Prior to that, she was a reporter with New York Newsday in New York City. Throughout most of her career, Giordano has focused on social service issues, including poverty, child welfare, housing, mental health and aging. Her work has received numerous national and regional awards, including Sidney Hillman and Paul Tobenkin awards for a series profiling Philadelphia’s poorest neighborhood. She was part of a reporting team that was a Pulitzer finalist for coverage of a deadly Bronx social club fire. Giordano graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in journalism and political science. A native New Yorker, she lives in Philadelphia with her three children. Honorable Mention – National Media
Peter Eisler
Washington, DC Since joining USA TODAY as an investigative reporter in 1995, Peter Eisler has written stories on everything from the government’s lax enforcement of safe drinking water laws to the vulnerability of Russia's chemical weapons stockpiles. Peter Eisler receives the Honorable Distinction Award for his series of stories published in USA TODAY, which examined fire safety problems in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other institutional care settings for the elderly and disabled. The stories found that fires in these facilities kill hundreds of dependent adults each year, often because the buildings lack sprinklers, automatic alarm systems and other standard fire-safety features. In many cases, these sort of features are not required due to loopholes in state and federal safety regulations. Eisler's work has been cited in journalism books and honored with a variety of national prizes, including the ASA National Media Award in 1998 for stories on staffing problems in nursing homes. In 2005, he won the National Press Club's Kozik Medal for Environmental Reporting after writing a series on the Pentagon's efforts to avoid cleaning up pollution at military bases. In 2006, his reporting on fire safety lapses in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other elder-care institutions was a national finalist for the Associated Press Manging Editors' public service prize. Based in Washington, D.C., Eisler speaks and lectures frequently for college classes, professional seminars and civic groups. Before coming to USA TODAY, he worked at Gannett News Service and other wire services and newspapers in Washington, D.C. and New England. He is married to Mimi Hall, also a reporter at USA TODAY, and has two sons, Henry and Graham. Honorable Mention – Local & Regional Media
Warren Wolfe
Minneapolis, Minnesota Warren Wolfe has covered issues of aging since 1991. He writes about trends, public policy, problems and other issues that affect older people and their families. His work has included substantial reporting about caregiving, Alzheimer’s disease, nursing homes and other long-term care, retirement planning, science of aging and public policy regarding financing and program changes in such programs as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. For the past year, much of his work has been focused on Medicare and the new drug benefit. Warren Wolfe receives this award articles covering Medicare Part D. His authoritative reporting and writing helped older and disabled beneficiaries and their families chart a course through the mass of information about scores of competing drug plans. He offered clear explanations of the program and how to navigate the system, told the stories of people struggling to make choices, and then described the agonizing problems that marred the state of the drug benefit. At the Star Tribune, he has covered agriculture, outstate Minnesota, been a copy editor and for a decade was an assistant city editor supervising a dozen reporters. Before that, he was a reporter and news editor at a small daily newspaper in Minnesota. For three years, he was an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., teaching advanced reporting. He also is a founding member of the Journalists Exchange on Aging, a national network of journalists who cover aging issues. He is married to Sheryl Fairbanks and both are helping care for their parents. |
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Copyright © 2010 American Society on Aging; all rights reserved. 71 Stevenson St., Suite 1450, San Francisco, CA 94105-2938 |
Susan Dentzer is an on-air correspondent with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). She leads a unit dedicated to providing in-depth coverage of health care, health policy and Social Security. The unit, begun in 1998, is funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
