RoA Update 2022

It has been a great start to spring for the Reporting on Addiction team. We’ve been working towards disseminating our initial resources, developing new ones and building partnerships. 

Here's what we've been up to:

Dissemination Efforts

• What’s new: In April, we presented our resources at the Rx Summit and had our resources presented at the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) conference. This summer we’ll be taking our media training on the road to work with addiction scientists at the College of Problems on Drug Dependence (CPDD). 
• During the spring semester, we completed beta testing of our journalism school curriculum (select roll-out Fall 2022). We also secured student newspaper partners that we’ll support during the ‘22-’23 school year.
• Why it matters: This dissemination targets all key groups for our initiative: professional journalists, student journalists, journalism educators and addiction scientists. By working across groups we can accelerate the implementation of our resources.

New Resources in Development

• What’s new: In May, we met with a team of visual journalists to explore how our group can have an impact towards improving the images that are used when reporting on addiction. 
• Why it matters: This has been an important part of our strategic vision and something that was highlighted as a problem area during both the Expert and Community Focus Groups. Images can detract from the excellent work done towards updating language and including better sources. 
• Where it stands: We learned a lot from this first discussion with visual journalists, and everyone left the discussion surprised at how complicated this issue is. There is no single point of failure and each step of the process needs tailored support. We are committed to being part of the solution in this space and will continue to learn about these issues and update you on our progress.

Pending Partnerships

• What’s new: We’re currently exploring many potential local, regional and national partners to help extend the reach of our efforts. 
• How you can help: Reply to this email if you have any suggestions or tips.

If you or your newsroom would like to receive training, you’d like to join our expert database or you have suggestions for what we should be working on next, reply to this email to get in touch!

Hope you have a good week,

The Reporting on Addiction team