WWW.IVANHOE.COM: Site Features ‘Breakthrough,’ Original Stories
In a field flooded with health care Web sites that often post similar stories, www.ivanhoe.com, the site for Ivanhoe Broadcast News provides many original health-related stories, Marla Bolotsky reports in her "Your Health Online" column in the Los Angeles Times. IBN, owned by former ABC affiliate producer Bette Bonfleur and president Marjorie Bekhaert Thomas, is a television news organization providing health care news and "medical breakthrough" stories for more than 300 network television affiliates across the nation, including KABC-TV in Los Angeles. Staff members "cull and cross-check more than 150 medical journals and other research-based news sources monthly, and their 25 producers are based around the country, researching, interviewing and reporting on the stories they produce." The site emphasizes "consumer success stories," accompanied by 90-second "breakthrough" stories that feature both text and video; "features of the week" on family and general health topics; health-related discussions; and daily "news flashes." By paying a $50 yearly fee, users can access stories from the archives as well as receive the news flashes by e-mail. The site features a "clean and professional" look with a "simple" layout. In contrast to the intimidating feel of other health sites, Bolotsky says, IBN features a "smaller range of choices -- and more direct paths" (2/7).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.