Criminal? Or a Public Health Crisis? News and What Influences How We Talk About Drugs in America

The opiate crisis has made headlines across the country as journalists and editors seek to humanize the story of users and source the mountain of prescription drugs that are being consumed. Was the crack crisis covered differently? Did the race and social status of the users in each epidemic, and the urban vs. corporate manufacture of the drugs, impact the coverage? How do the answers to these questions contribute to the distrust some Americans have in reporters and media companies? How do attitudes toward reporting on the evolving story reflect or mirror the ambivalence some in the public have toward journalism today? Panelists: Maria E. Len-Ríos, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor in the Advertising & Public Relations Department at the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia; Earnest L. Perry, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies at the Missouri School of Journalism; John Pacenti, award-winning investigative reporter for The Palm Beach Post, and Pam Kelley, author of Money Rock: A Family’s Story of Cocaine, Race, and Ambition in the New South.