Journalist Bob Rosenblatt Becomes Senior Fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance

For Release: February 25, 2003
Contact: Jill Braunstein, (202) 452-8097

Washington, DC—The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) announced today that Bob Rosenblatt, a former Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, will be writing for NASI as a Senior Fellow. He will contribute to NASI’s social insurance education work by developing its website information for journalists.

Social insurance issues are at the center of many policy debates at the state, national, and international policy-making levels. Journalists and others writing about these issues need clear, accurate sources easy to find and complete in their coverage. NASI has more than 600 experts on a variety of social insurance programs and questions willing to clarify complex issues, explain context and policy debates, and talk to novice and veteran reporters about Social Security, Medicare, disability, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation.

“Bob Rosenblatt’s years of experience writing about the Social Security and Medicare debates and his keen insights about the connections between journalism and policy research will add a new dimension to NASI’s public education efforts,” said Lawrence H. Thompson, President of NASI.

In his 26 years as a Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, Rosenblatt developed a special “aging beat,” focusing on stories dealing with the baby boom generation and their parents. He covered Social Security, Medicare, pensions, and related issues, and the HMO revolution. He also covered a wide variety of economic and financial news stories, including the collapse of the savings and loan industry, the revolution in banking and financial services, the recession and economic boom during the 1990s, and the debate over the Clinton health plan. In the final year of the Clinton presidency, he was assigned to the White House and traveled with the President on domestic and foreign trips and during campaign appearances.

“NASI’s website, www.nasi.org, is already the preferred starting point for research carried out “on deadline” by many journalists, Congressional staff, and students,” observed Jill Braunstein, Director of Communications. “Its usefulness to the press will benefit greatly from Bob’s expert attention.”

As NASI’s Senior Fellow, Mr. Rosenblatt will design the first stage of its online social insurance education project. He will use a “layered” approach to introducing facts about social insurance, identifying links to NASI reports, briefs, and conference books as his primary references, with a list of NASI members who can be called on for further background consultation, opinions, and quotes. A NASI Editorial Review Committee will review the final information to ensure that it meets NASI standards for accuracy, clarity, objectivity, and completeness.

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The National Academy of Social Insurance is America’s only private, non-partisan resource center made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding of social insurance and informed policy-making through policy research, public education, training, and the open exchange of ideas.