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 today (Sept. 13) at 7 p.m. as part of its Recovery Month launch.
“Tackling Addiction Stigma by Working with the Media,” held on Zoom, 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, teaching assistant professor in the Reed College of Media and 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, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute’s Department of Behavioral 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.