Get help reporting on addiction

By Ashton Marra Newsrooms

covering the complexities of addiction in their communities can get help online.

At Reporting on Addiction, journalists are creating resources and training materials to help support newsrooms covering addiction while reducing unintentional stigma in journalism that can result in barriers to treatment and recovery resources.

Today, one of the biggest challenges facing newsrooms is covering the settlement funds being distributed to state, county and municipal governments from lawsuits brought against opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies. It is a reporter’s responsibility to hold government leaders accountable when spending these funds, but this is an incredibly difficult story to tell.

That’s why Reporting on Addiction is launching a newsletter series and a Slack channel designed to help local journalists report on the settlement funds from national opioid prescription lawsuits.

The newsletter series will provide some brief background and history on these lawsuits, but will largely focus on the questions people should be asking about how that money will be spent. The intent is to connect reporters with experts in the addiction science and medicine spaces who can help them hold government officials accountable, and provide story ideas they can pursue today and in the future. Upcoming trainings and webinars are planned to make sure everyone is prepared to cover every twist and turn in this unfolding story.

The Slack channel is a place where local journalists can share resources and story ideas with each other, as well as communicate with our team of experts for assistance in real time. Get a link to s ign up for the Slack team by emailing ashton@100daysinappalachia. com.

Sign up for the series by choosing “Opioid Settlement Series” on the interest checklist at reportingonaddiction.org/newsletter.

Ashton Marra teaches journalism at West Virginia University and is the executive editor of the nonprofit news outlet 100 Days in Appalachia. She’s also the cofounder of the nonprofit journalism training organization Reporting on Addiction.