NPR's new global health, development beat mixes social media, on-the-ground reporting

"NPR's new global health and development beat is a good example of a hybrid approach to storytelling, one that places just as much emphasis on social media as it does on shoe-leather reporting," Poynter.org Associate Editor Mallary Jean Tenore reports in the organization's blog. "Joe Neel, deputy senior supervising editor and a correspondent on the Science Desk, said the global health and development beat is helping NPR's science team reshape the way it approaches stories," with correspondent Jason Beaubien reporting from the field and associate producer Michaeleen Doucleff working on multimedia and social media engagement, Tenore states, noting, "The beat, which is part of NPR's Science Desk, is supported by a grant from the [Bill & Melinda] Gates Foundation" (8/27).