Fellowship Will Offer Reporters Valuable Insight as America Ages
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) has received renewed grant support to welcome a 16th class of reporters for the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program. The current funders include Silver Century Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, and National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation (NIHCM).
Since its founding in 2010, this program has been responsible for more than 850 news stories produced by 245 alumni. It has two goals: to educate journalists about issues in aging, better allowing them to spread a new awareness to general-audience and ethnic or other minoritized populations; and to disseminate information about new scientific findings, policy debates, innovations, and evidence-based solutions.
“As the nation adjusts to changes in support for federally funded aging programs and research, the need for up-to-date and accurate news coverage takes on a heightened urgency,” said Todd Kluss, GSA’s director of communications. “With the support of our funding partners, the journalist fellows are able to build connections to expert sources on aging, to each other, and to their communities.”
Kluss co-directs the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program together with veteran age-beat journalist Liz Seegert, who serves as program coordinator of the fellowship’s media partner, the Journalists Network on Generations.
“It’s always exciting to welcome a new cohort of fellows, and this year it seems especially important to ensure that the many issues impacting aging — including research, policy, and local programs — remain top of mind for journalists,” Seegert said. “This fellowship offers journalists expert insight and support so they can delve deeper into key issues that directly impact their communities.”
The program’s co-founder, Journalists Network on Generations National Coordinator Paul Kleyman, serves as senior advisor and editorial consultant.
As in previous years, half of the fellows will be selected from general-audience media and half from ethnic or other minority media outlets that serve communities within the U.S. Staff and freelance reporters and who are covering or wish to cover issues in aging are eligible to apply.
The program’s in-person activities will bring the fellows to GSA’s 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, which will take place from November 12 to 15 in Boston, Massachusetts, with the theme of “Innovative Horizons in Gerontology.” There the fellows will participate in an exclusive educational workshop, which will showcase demographic trends and research highlights and include discussions with veteran journalists on how to position aging stories in the current media environment.
The fellowship requires reporters to deliver two projects based on current aging research, including a short-initial story and major piece or series in the following months. All applications for the fellowship program will be reviewed by a selection committee of gerontologists and editorial professionals. The criteria will include clarity and originality of proposed in-depth story projects; quality of samples of published or produced work; and high-impact potential of proposals geographically and across different ethnic or racial populations. The application deadline is Friday, July 18.