The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20071-0002
Editor's note: For a top daily that cranks out some of the country's most respected and widely read health and medical news, Washington Post editors and writers thrive on news tips and PR expertise that allow them to quickly report on how healthcare changes and updates will have personal/consumer impact. Fact-based information on how people's lives will be significantly improved are in high demand. National trends, research information and analysis are usually covered with a local angle (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). (Deadline for copy is three weeks prior to the issue date.)
| Section | Editors | Days To Contact/ Days To Avoid | Methods | Hot Buttons |
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Weekly Health Section This section focus on hard news driven health features. It looks at the hottest and most current healthcare trends and explores how consumers are affected |
Senior Editor: Lexie Verdon Phone: 202/334-5032 Fax: 202/334-6471 |
Tuesday through Thursday are good, Mondays with Fridays being the toughest (deadline-intensive). The health weekly is published every Tuesday as a supplement. |
Verdon prefers faxes and snail mail over emails. Phone calls are fine if they are to follow up on written pitches. |
Currently, the hot areas of health coverage is the newest clinical research, public health issues and diet drugs. Overall, editors look at "big picture" healthcare trends rather than individual or isolated stories. Verdon's PR pet peeves are not having enough lead time to develop stories. She also says that she can't return every call and she won't always have a definitive response on whether she can use pitched info. |
| Daily News Here, the news is often politically-charged, with a hard news bent. Managed care developments, Medicare, Medicaid and other issues of national import are covered here and editors are always looking for medical spokespeople to offer objective analysis and candid observations on what the latest legislative recommendations mean to the public. | National News Reporter John Yang Phone: 202/334-7437 Fax: 202/334-4475 |
Any time before 5 p.m., weekdays. |
Faxing is better than anything else; followed up by a very quick phone call to gauge interest and reporter needs. |
Due to daily deadlines and news coverage, editors who cover medical and health news need to know all of the relevant facts upfront. There's no time for cute leads or "feature" type hooks to get these reporters and editors interested in following up. Also make sure that contacts are easily visible on press releases and most of all available for clarification and last-minute, down-to-the-wire interviews. |
Editorial Contacts at Washington Post, 202/334-6000 (http://www.washingtonpost.com):
Medical/Health Assistant Managing Editor - Abigail Trafford, ext. 5031
Assistant Editor - Lexie Verdon, ext. 5032
Medical/Health Reporters:
Sandy Rovner, ext. 6039
Don Colburn, ext. 5033
Spencer Rich, ext. 7446
Judy Havemann, ext. 6415
David Brown, ext. 5049
National News Editor - Bob Hamilton, ext. 7465
National News Deputy Editor - Bob Barnes, ext. 7267
National News Deputy Ediror - Robert McCartney, ext. 4208
National News Deputy Editor - Maralee Schwartz, ext. 6082
National News Assistant Editor - Margaret Shapiro, ext. 6812
National News Assistant Editor - Ann Grimes, ext. 6794
Regional News Editor - Richard Paxson, ext. 4210
Regional News Assistant Editor - Paul Bernstein, ext. 4210