How do you get past the press release on the health beat? The hardest thing for reporters, veterans or newbies alike, is knowing where to look for information. What kind of financial shape is your local hospital or health insurer? How does the state or federal government rate that nursing home? Does a particular doctor have an unusually high number of medical malpractice claims? We are going to dig into these and other issues with veteran investigative reporter Matt Dempsey of the Houston Chronicle.
Matt Dempsey, Data Reporter at the Houston Chronicle
Matt Dempsey is the data editor for the Houston Chronicle’s Investigations team. He joined the Chronicle in 2014. Matt previously worked for the Arizona Republic and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His data journalism skills were used in projects involving payday lending, wildfires, state pensions and inequalities in high school sports. His passion for public records frequently leads to disclosure of important data from agencies at all levels of government. Matt has trained journalists at professional conferences and taught graduate and undergraduate students at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Matt has received four first-place awards from the Arizona Press Club, including two in 2013, for sports reporting, environmental/science reporting and education reporting. He won first place from the Best of the West for growth/environmental reporting, was an IRE Award finalist in 2010 and received the Valley of the Sun Chapter of SJP First Amendment Award in 2006.
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