‘Tackling Addiction Stigma by Working with the Media’: Reporting on Addiction to host discussion on addiction stigma in local communities as part of Recovery Month
Event: Tackling Addiction Stigma by Working with the Media
Time: Monday, Sept. 13 2021, 7p EST
Reporting on Addiction, a collaborative project of the Opioid Policy Institute and 100 Days in Appalachia, will host a discussion about the intersection of addiction stigma, discrimination, and the media on Monday, September 13 at 7 p.m. EST as part of its Recovery Month launch.
Titled “Tackling Addiction Stigma by Working with the Media,” this event will be held through Zoom and will evaluate the responsibility of journalists, both local and national, when reporting on addiction and the real-world impacts that reporting has in the communities they cover, such as decreased access to addiction treatment and an increase in discrimination against people who use drugs. Panelists will also discuss the ways communities can respond and overcome that stigma, starting with improving the ways journalists report on addiction, as well as the resources that are currently available.
The discussion will be moderated by Reporting on Addiction co-founders Jonathan JK Stoltman, director of the Opioid Policy Institute, and Ashton Marra, executive editor at 100 Days in Appalachia. Panelists include:
Abby Spears, outreach and policy coordinator at River Valley Organizing, a multi-racial, multicultural working-class organization that radically builds community throughout the Ohio River Valley.
Caity Coyne, a health reporter at the Charleston-Gazette Mail.
Laura Lander, associate professor in the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute’s Department of Behavior Medicine and Psychiatry.
Carlos Blanco, director of the Division of Epidemiology, Services and Prevention Research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a component of the National Institute of Health.
Reporting on Addiction is a newly launched, collaborative project that provides free, evidence-based resources to journalists that report on addiction with the goal of decreasing the stigma and discrimination present in the media’s addiction coverage.
Two style guides – a condensed, downloadable PDF with quick tips, recommendations and resources (and an accompanying Spanish version) and an expanded document with detailed terminology journalists will frequently encounter in the field – are available on the project’s website.
Questions about the event or the project in general should be directed to contact@reportingonaddiction.org. Subscribe to Reporting on Addiction’s email list to receive announcements about future events and resources. Follow the project on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok.
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