Pulitzer Center Update October 25, 2024
Medill Event Explores Covering Community, Addiction, and Trauma
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The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center, hosted an event on October 11, 2024, for Medill graduate students. The event featured discussions about addiction, community-focused journalism, and trauma-informed reporting.
One of the panelists was Justin Maxon, an artist, educator, and storyteller who is a two-time Pulitzer Center grantee. Maxon’s work over the past seven years has primarily explored the theme of addiction, which he described as “one of the most stigmatizing conditions in the world.”
Maxon encouraged the Medill students to break that stigma by separating people from their conditions when reporting on addiction. “If you can show the nuances in their everyday life, that is really important,” he said.
Maxon also emphasized the value of covering one’s own community. “Each one of us in this room holds membership in a community and the closer we are to the issues that we cover, the more we understand the nuances involved,” he said.
Emanuella Evans, a Medill graduate and a Pulitzer Center grantee, echoed Maxon’s comments about community while discussing a documentary she produced that explored mental health among youth in the South Sudanese community in the U.S.
“This project was a way for me to really connect with my community,” she said. “It was very therapeutic for me and what I got from my interviewees is it was just a great opportunity to be able to take control of their own stories.”
Evans was particularly conscious of context and imagery while working on her documentary. She emphasized the need for good research and careful framing, explaining that she consciously avoided relying solely on emotional footage. Evans also stressed the importance of “not coming in with your own ideas and really letting the interviews shape the story.”
However, she admitted that covering sensitive topics within one’s own community can be challenging. “It became really hard to listen to long interviews and discuss really hard topics,” she said.
Evans inspired many Medill students, including Tyler Williamson. “I could tell how passionate and strong she was,” Williamson said after the event. She was particularly moved by Evans’ ability to make her documentary about young people’s mental health in her own community accessible to those outside of it.
Josh McGhee, Chicago bureau chief at MindSite News, discussed the importance of journalists taking care of their mental well-being. “You need to be protecting your well-being well before you get to that interview,” he said. “Take care of yourself and then you can try to help other people.”
Like McGhee, John Barth, from the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, emphasized the importance of journalists looking after their mental health during a session that he led.
In addition, Barth discussed trauma-informed reporting. “For some sources, talking about trauma is OK. It’s part of the journey. For some folks, they’re not ready to talk,” he said. “You always want to remember that you’re a human being dealing with human beings in distress.”
Ismael Belkoura, a Medill student, asked Barth what needs to be improved in respect of trauma-informed reporting. “Making the space to have the conversation,” he replied. “I think that we’re only at the beginning of taking this seriously.”
The event concluded with Medill students breaking into small groups with some of the speakers to delve deeper into the topics discussed during the day.
Fern Alling, a Medill student, shared the key points from one group’s discussion about the role of journalism as an institution.
“We have to be aware of the fact that our ability to write and speak has an impact on folks’ lives,” Alling said. “The media needs to check its ego, having the ability to review our coverage and admit that it was wrong while also having the ability to move beyond that.”
Williamson spoke on behalf of another group, which discussed the distinction between reporting and coverage. “It doesn’t have to be a big story to be a good story,” she said.
Reflecting on the event as a whole, Williamson said it provided “good tips and good training that they don’t teach you at undergrad.”
Janani Janarthanan, another Medill student, found the discussions eye-opening. “It is very important to recognize our biases and understand our communities,” she said.
Overall, the event offered graduate students at Medill valuable insights into journalists’ responsibilities and the challenges of covering sensitive topics while also highlighting the importance of self-care.
