Reporting on Addiction

Addiction is a chronically-relapsing brain disease that affects more than 23 million Americans, but only one in 10 of them receive the treatment they need. Addiction is treatable. Recovery is possible. Addiction is not a choice, but the language journalists use to describe the disease is.

Reporting on Addiction is a collaboration of addiction science experts, professional journalists and journalism educators, who want to improve the way we’re reporting on addiction.

In this hour-long training, Reporting on Addiction helps reporters, producers and editors build their knowledge of the science of addiction, its medical definition and how the brain disease works. Then, we take a deeper look at how addiction stigma manifests in news publications, and translate the science into tips for better reporting – from pitch to newscast – that you can use today.

This webinar was coordinated by the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

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