{"id":95126,"date":"2021-02-23T13:53:24","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T19:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=95126&preview=true&preview_id=95126"},"modified":"2021-02-23T13:53:24","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T19:53:24","slug":"amanda-woerner-says-womens-health-website-filled-a-void-in-coronavirus-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/amanda-woerner-says-womens-health-website-filled-a-void-in-coronavirus-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Woerner says Women\u2019s Health website filled a void in coronavirus coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Erin Warwood<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

How long will the COVID-19 pandemic last? What\u2019s it like to fall ill with the virus? And why is it called \u201ccoronavirus\u201d?<\/p>\n

Amanda Woerner, 34, executive digital editor at Women\u2019s Health magazine<\/a>, explains how these kinds of questions fit into the publication\u2019s digital coverage of COVID-19 and describes the challenges of reporting on wellness during a pandemic.<\/p>\n

What is the role of a health and wellness publication in a pandemic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We couldn’t compete with big news organizations that basically have 24-hour staffs. So immediately we took a look at tools like Google Trends to figure out what people are searching for. And that was a great way for us to home in on certain topics that aren’t really being delved into in a major way by breaking news networks, but that people still really wanted to know the answers to.<\/p>\n

Very early on, we focused a lot on trying to find a real woman in our age demographics who had been diagnosed with COVID. And this was super challenging in the beginning because there were not a lot of tests happening back then. But my co-worker happened to see somebody posting about somebody else they knew who got diagnosed in Seattle. And we published an \u201cas told to\u201d essay with her extremely early. These real women\u2019s stories have always been a hallmark of Women\u2019s Health. People were fascinated because there weren’t really any first-person accounts of a young woman and her experience of being diagnosed and what she was going through.<\/p>\n

So basically, our role, and I think the role of a health and wellness brand that’s not a breaking news network, should be to find the whitespace. When I say that, I\u2019m talking about filling a gap that is not being addressed by other news outlets or competitors.<\/p>\n

\n

Elyse Isopo is a critical care nurse who has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic since March. https:\/\/t.co\/yEi3oKyH1r<\/a><\/p>\n

— Women's Health (@WomensHealthMag) December 14, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n