Science and Technical Columns

Writing a column on computers and other technology, finance, science, and other technical fields requires knowledge and specialized sources. Learn what it takes to write about health and finance. Approaches which Robert Rosenblatt shares apply to all columns of this type.

Robert Rosenblatt, Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times since 1976, covers financial and economic issues, with a specialty in Social Security, Medicare, pensions and the aging of the baby boom generation. He may be reached at bob.rosenblatt@latimes.com .

His weekly Health Dollars & Sense columns can be found online in the Los Angeles Times Health section.

Writing the specialized column is a challenged because it must be compelling and precise at the same time. I don't have the luxury of offering opinions or generalities. I have to give specific, helpful information and write it in an easy-to-understand manner. Readers can easily misunderstand, especially this kind of material.

My audience is anybody who has questions about their health care finances, whether it is a retired person on Medicare, or a mother anxious about HMO coverage of medications for her asthmatic child. I find that my fellow reporters, who are fearless covering wars and revolutions and election campaigns, often get confused and anxious about the health insurance coverage. If they find it difficult, how about the reader who has only an eighth grade education, or doesn't understand English very well, or who has only 20 minutes a day to spend with the entire paper?

My sources are experts: people who work for government agencies, for advocacy groups, for legal aid societies, for insurance companies, for industry groups, for charities. All of them have specialized knowledge. I doublecheck the information with several sources. The worst thing for this column is to have a wrong fact, or garbled phone number.

I use the Internet only to find the Web sites for some of these groups, and then I will call and make sure the information on the Web site is current and accurate.

Read a model from Bob Rosenblatt