KCUR health reporter Alex Smith has garnered a second-place award for beat reporting from the Association of Health Care Journalists, one of the premier health reporting organizations in the country.
Smith was recognized for several pieces he reported over the course of 2020, including a story about the Kansas Health Department underreporting COVID-19 cases and the failure to track COVID-19 outbreaks at Kansas City businesses.
“During the course of the year, I spoke with patients, nurses, doctors, and people from all across Kansas and Missouri who helped me and the public understand how the coronavirus was affecting them,” Smith said. “Some health care workers risked their jobs by talking with me candidly about what they saw in hospitals, and I deeply appreciate them for trusting me with their stories.”
First place in the beat reporting category was awarded to Lisa Krieger of The (San Jose) Mercury News, also for her reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smith joined KCUR in 2006 as an assistant producer. He later helped produce “KC Currents,” a weekly, community-oriented magazine program that aired on KCUR from 2006 through 2014.
In January 2014, he started working as a health/science reporter. In 2017, he received a national Edward R. Murrow Award for a radio feature about a deaf man who regained his hearing through cochlear implants.
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