About Us
Reporting on Addiction launched in 2020 as a collaboration between 100 Days in Appalachia and the Opioid Policy Institute. Our goal? Improve journalism about addiction.
100 Days in Appalachia
Opioid Policy Institute
Our Journey
Reporting on Addiction started as conversations between our founding partners during the summer of 2020. We came together with a shared interest in improving reporting on addiction to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by people who use drugs, are in treatment or in recovery. We officially launched in September 2021 as part of national Recovery Month.
Due to our unique strengths and experience as journalism educators, professional journalists, and addiction science/medicine experts, our partnership has the opportunity to impact current members of the media, the next generation of journalists, and the experts who want to help. This three-pronged approach will comprehensively break the cycle of inaccurate and harmful reporting.
The Problem: Few people can access evidence-based addiction prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery supports. This is even more acute for historically excluded people. These barriers are the direct result of the intersections of stigma associated with addiction, incarceration, minority status, economics and gender. While the media covers the many problems that result from these issues, it rarely covers solutions and rarely follows best practices from ethical guides like the AP Style Book or scientific research.
Our Solution: We conducted a thorough review of existing initiatives related to stigma, public health, and the media. We identified gaps in the current efforts related to addiction, particularly a lack of focus on student journalists, ongoing support for professional journalists, and limited ways to help experts get to understand the issues and get involved. We took our learnings from allied movements related to gun violence, incarceration, and suicide and convened three focus groups with representation from diverse populations to steer our project. They included experts in the field (addiction scientists, clinicians, researchers, etc.), community advocates (providers, peer recovery coaches, harm reduction programs, etc.), and journalists who represented local, regional and national publications across mediums (print, digital, radio and television).
As a result of this work, we’ve:
- Crafted free resources to address core topics and emerging issues
- Trained professional and student newsrooms
- Trained educators on our off-the-shelf curriculum
- Trained our network of subject matter experts – through both training and lived experience – on how to work with the media.
Through this multipronged approach, we have had a substantial impact on how the media reports on addiction.
Our Guiding Principles: We want media coverage that –
- Lets people know there is hope and treatment for addiction by using the suggested story tag:
- Recovery from addiction is possible. For help, please call the free and confidential treatment referral hotline (1-800-662-HELP) or visit findtreatment.gov.
- Leverages experts from your community and across the nation to help guide reporting to be more reflective of the current science and medicine about addiction.
- Discusses the complicated nature of the disease that is addiction, including the progression and various routes to treatment and recovery.
- Treats people with an addiction as people by using empathetic and trauma-informed reporting principles.
- Deliberately uses words that are not associated with negative beliefs towards people who use drugs, are in-treatment, or recovery.
- Talks about the many barriers to treatment and during recovery.
Access our training resources for journalists here, for educators here, and for experts here. And request a training here.
Meet the Team
Ashton Marra, MS
Co-Director
Ashton Marra is a teaching associate professor at West Virginia University where her expertise lies in news writing and video storytelling. She is the former executive editor of 100 Days in Appalachia, a nonprofit, collaborative newsroom, and spent more than a decade working in public media and broadcast television.
Jonathan JK Stoltman, PhD
Co-Director
Jonathan JK Stoltman is director of the Opioid Policy Institute and co-founder of Reporting on Addiction. In 2019, he completed his PhD in Lifespan Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University and has worked as a researcher focusing on addiction treatment and recovery since 2013.
Mishka Terplan, MD MPH
Medical Director
Dr. Mishka Terplan is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and in addiction medicine. His primary clinical, research and advocacy interests lie along the intersections of reproductive and behavioral health. Dr. Terplan is nationally recognized as an expert in the care of pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorder and central to developing guidance for care in the field.
Kristen Uppercue, MS
Chief Brand Officer
Kristen Uppercue is an editor and project manager at 100 Days in Appalachia, a nonprofit, collaborative newsroom telling the complex stories of a region that deserves to be heard. She serves as chief brand officer at Reporting on Addiction.
Rachel Molenda
Content Manager
Rachel Molenda has more than a decade of expertise in digital and print media at organizations in Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia. Her work has been recognized by the National Press Photographers Association, the Society for News Design, the National Headliner Awards, and Online News Association. Rachel grew up in West Virginia and holds a BFA in photography from Shepherd University.
Jessica Riley
Intern
Jessica Riley is the associate editor for special projects at 100 Days in Appalachia. She holds a bachelor’s degree jn journalism from West Virginia University and is currently pursuing a masters in journalism from the same institution. She has worked on various projects focusing on addiction, specifically opioid settlement funds and similar research across West Virginia
Dillon Bergin
Research Fellow
Dillon Bergin is a data reporter for MuckRock, where he works on collaborative investigations. Bergin is also the director of the Data Liberation Project and hosts FOIAFriday, a monthly community podcast about all things public records. He's currently a McGraw Center for Business Journalism fellow. He was a Report for America corps member with Searchlight New Mexico and has held fellowships with the Brown Institute for Media Innovation and Fulbright Germany's journalism program.
Strategic Plan
In 2023, we completed a strategic plan to guide our work through 2027. View that plan and our future goals below.
Media Kit
A program of Appalachia Free Press 501(c)3