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Katie Hobson's career path resembles that of many reporters these days. She left TheStreet.com early last year when it became clear that the bottom was falling out of the
dotcom market - particularly the "e-tail" sector she was covering. She joined U.S. News & World Report to cover business and retail. Last month, as associate editor with the
magazine's New York bureau, she made a dramatic switch, changing her beat to cover the booming health and science industries.
She is now the only reporter covering health and science out of the New York bureau, and is figuring out for herself what the new beat will mean in terms of her coverage.
U.S. News & World Report's weekly health and science reporting reaches more than 11.8 million highly-educated, affluent readers.
Content/Contacts
Although U.S. News & World Report covers a wide variety of health and science topics, and Hobson's beat is almost as broad, her specific areas of interest are the science
of fitness, cancer and infectious disease. She's interested in new information and reports, but keep in mind that she is writing to a mass audience rather than to providers or
other healthcare-savvy readers. "We do a lot of straight science based on journal articles," she says. "We're explaining what's going on for a general audience."
She's particularly interested in items that prove conventional wisdom wrong, citing news like recent studies that have shown hormone replacement therapy may actually do women
more harm than good. Contact Hobson at [email protected]. Her deadlines are typically at the end of the week, so it's best to catch her
early in the week.
Pitch Tips
Avoid the phone if possible. "I love email, and I read every email," Hobson says. She tries to respond to almost every piece of email she receives, even if it's only to tell
you she isn't interested in what you have to offer. "I hate phone pitches. I really don't want to talk to someone on the phone unless I have made an appointment to do so," she
says.
Also, be sure you've checked her recent coverage before pitching her. "I won't repeat a topic I've done for a while unless there's a major development," she warns. Same goes
for items that have been covered extensively in other outlets. Hobson is looking for medical and science material that "hasn't been covered to death."
Comments
Hobson emphasizes that she wants truly unique stories, especially those that defy traditional thinking. For example: She recently read a report that showed the conventional
first aid for snake bites (cutting an "x" over the bite and sucking the venom out) is definitely not the thing to do. "Everyone's heard it, but it's not true," she says. Another
report showed that first cousins should feel free to marry and reproduce (from a medical standpoint, that is) because the risk of producing a deformed child is relatively low.
The one area Hobson absolutely won't cover is business-to-business health or science news.
In The Pipeline
Hobson is particularly keen on the possibilities her new beat affords for covering cancer. "I'm really interested in hearing about new stuff in cancer." She also envisions new
and interesting angles on infectious disease becoming a significant portion of her coverage in the near future.
While she doesn't thrive on news from a single company, Hobson is interested in speaking with academics or researchers from individual organizations - as long as they have
something new and different to say. She's also interested in any new reports and studies coming out and receives a great deal of her material from the journals that publish those
reports and studies first.