Mary Ann Roser article

Headline: Austin Reporter Shares Experience Covering Medicine and Health

Blurb: Medicine and health reporter Mary Ann Roser spoke to journalism students at St. Edward’s University about her background in the field and the powerful stories she has covered recently.

In the last few minutes of a Journalism class at St. Edward’s University, students were shown a video of a story that reporter Mary Ann Roser covered. The video resulted in a classroom full of amazement.

The powerful story of a girl with a rare medical condition was the foundation of Roser’s lecture to the class. It portrayed her dedication to beat reporting and the possibilities it can hold.

Roser, medicine and health beat reporter at the Austin American-Statesman since 2000, spoke to journalism students at St. Edward’s this morning about beat reporting. When explaining what beat reporting is, she said it is a defined area of coverage.

Within her beat, Roser said she covers a variety of topics including medicine technology, pharmaceuticals, the Food and Drug Administration, and health care.

“I am not the New York Times,” Roser said when explaining that she works for a regional newspaper. She said she covers stories based in the Austin area the majority of the time; however, sometimes her stories have national implications.

Roser shared stories she is currently or has previously worked on. A story in progress is about a 23-year-old man who has hemophilia, a bleeding disorder that could be life threatening without medication.

The man is about to reach his maximum in health care because of the expense of the medicine. Once he reaches his maximum in a couple of months, he will not be able to take his medication and will hold an extremely high risk of death with even a small sign of blood. Roser said the man felt like he had a death sentence, but has done nothing to deserve it.

A past story shared was about a 7-year-old girl who has Crouzon syndrome, a uncommon condition that causes bones in the face and skull fuse. It also causes increased pressure as the brain, eyes, and other facial features continue to grow.

Roser spent several months on the story about this young girl who underwent major surgery. She kept up with the family before and afterwards and said she really got to know what they were going through. Roser shared her article with the class and a video that went with it, which helped portray the total story in a powerful way.

With most stories, Roser said she likes to include video along with the article because multimedia has become such an important part of journalism. The online content often contains video she has filmed. She has been learning to edit footage herself on iMovie because it is easier than having to tell someone how she wants the story told.

She said links and pictures are also essential parts on online articles.

Roser’s time with the class allowed students to better understand what it takes to be a beat reporter and the powerful stories one can cover working on a particular topic.