Reporting on Addiction Launches in Recovery Month with Resources for Journalists to Reduce Stigma in Community Reporting

Press Contact:
Jonathan JK Stoltman
contact@reportingonaddiction.org 


SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

Reporting on Addiction, a collaborative project offering resources to journalists to encourage ethical and responsible reporting on addiction treatment and recovery, is launching this September to mark national Recovery Month. 

Reporting on Addiction is a partnership of the nonprofit digital newsroom 100 Days in Appalachia and research organization Opioid Policy Institute created with the goal of helping train and provide resources to support professional and student journalists alike as they report on this complex topic in their communities. 

The project exists to reduce stigma and discrimination faced by people who use drugs, are in treatment, or recovery by improving reporting about addiction. Harmful reporting inevitably impacts the perception of people who have a substance use disorder in the communities journalists report on. Ultimately, by reducing the harm often inadvertently created by news coverage of this group, we hope to increase access to evidence-based treatment and other dire resources necessary to assist people along their recovery journey. 

Created with real experience of working journalists in mind and under the advice of a group of working journalists, people with lived experience, medical specialists and treatment providers, two style guides are now available for immediate use:

  • a condensed version (downloadable for easy reference with an accompanying Spanish language version) with quick tips, recommendations and resources and 

  • an expanded version with detailed terminology journalists will frequently encounter while reporting in the field. 

Both style guides offer alternative language to use, based on the AP Stylebook, years of academic research that supports person-first language, and a series of focus groups with experts, media professionals and people with lived experience. 

Reporting on Addiction is developing more resources for future release – continuing the impact in the industry long after Recovery Month. They include a set of training materials for student journalists and professionals in the field. The team is currently accepting example reporting – both stigmatizing and positive – to use in the training materials. You can submit reporting on the project website. 

Reporting on Addiction is also creating an experts database (launching soon!) featuring academics, researchers, media professionals, people with lived experience and more who are available to speak with journalists. Experts who are interested can apply here. 

Stay up to date with Reporting on Addiction and be the first to know about new product offerings by subscribing to our newsletter or following the project on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. 

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