When the Award-Winning Journalists You Judged Get Dehumanized
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Dear Reader,
During the summer, I was a judge for the INNYs' Breaking Barriers Award – Small division. I signed up because I wanted to give back to the INN community (NewsMatch has been a lifeline for us), and articulating why a piece of good reporting works helps me become a better journalist.
There are very few times when you review a submission and instantly know that everyone else is running for second place. This was one of them. So imagine my horror when I saw these events unfold:
- Our handpicked winner Chris Blackwell of The Appeal had his drafts wiped out by a “technical glitch” of the Securus prison telecommunications system. He and his fellow incarcerated colleagues are each getting two e-stamps - worth less than $1 - as compensation for their hundreds of hours of work lost.
- Finalist Yanqi Xu of the Flatwater Free Press, had her nationality targeted by Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen after she found that a dozen of his family farms had unsafe nitrate levels and violated state regulations:
“Number one, I didn’t read it. And I won’t,” Pillen said. “Number two, all you got to do is look at the author. The author is from communist China. What more do you need to know?”
This is crazy!
Don't let them get away with targeting our journalists. Here's where you come in:
- Donate, donate, donate! The Appeal and Flatwater Free Press are also participating in NewsMatch. Double (or triple!) your impact now.
- Speak up on social media. Tell a friend about what's going on. Ask officials how they plan to stop this from happening again.
We believe strongly that in-depth journalism and fearless journalists are at the heart of an informed public and a strong community. And as Chris and Yanqi's ordeals have shown, the stakes have never felt higher. We are called to press forward, but we can't do this without you.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Ip, Editor-in-Chief
TEN-ISH WORD STORIES, SUBMITTED BY OUR READERS
- With lungs filled in Old Medina's aroma, our sweaty hands clasped.
— Hazma Jatte, Science Writer and Linguist, Morocco
- For some, the dictator's son was the most sensible presidential choice.
— Harvey Sapigao, Freelance Science Writer, the Philippines
TODAY IN THINGS YOU MUST READ
FAMILY NEWS!
- Congrats to alum Katrina Miller, who is a winner of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications! She joins Fayth Tan (2022) as our second contributor who's a recipient in the Research Scientist: Graduate Student category.
- Ever heard of a mysterious and debilitating eye disease only found in Nepal every odd-numbered year? Saugat Bolakhe has a great piece for Nature about seasonal hyperacute panuveitis (SHAPU).
- Check out Ellie Rose Mattoon's feature for proto.life about the burgeoning field of disaster microbiology — how a given disturbance can cause adaptations or spread in microbes, such as genetic mutations to the organism or their introduction into a new environment.
- Subdivided apartments are a notorious feature of Hong Kong's underclass, where I grew up. For Undark Magazine, Crystal Chow looks into how gaps in public care can be addressed through a community intervention model, especially as the city faces a "brain drain" of healthcare and social workers.
A SOUTHERN FLAIR
- Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, a climate change denier, is taking over the Louisiana governor's mansion in January; environmental and climate advocates are bracing for the state government's sharp turn toward the oil and gas industries. Read what these advocates had to say to Verite News' Drew Costley.
- Texas' oysters are not growing, because of the intensifying effects of climate change. The Texas Tribune follows fishermen out at sea on opening day as they face an uncertain future.
- Inside Climate News reporter Amy Green has a great two-parter about the two Florida Everglades: The Everglades Agricultural Area and the neighboring proposed Everglades to Gulf Conservation Area.
- How did Southwest Virginia, the fourth-most coal-dependent region in the U.S., get their hands on community solar? By being local, proving the technology works, and building a coalition to support. Read more on Grist.
WHAT ELSE WE'RE READING
- At certain data volumes and distances, the pigeon is a quicker option for large swaths of rural America, where internet speeds can lag far behind the national average. No, really! The Washington Post's Janice Kai Chen made a visual story to explain how that's so. She also mentions other physical methods to transport large amounts of data (unpaywalled).
- Singapore instituted Southeast Asia's first carbon pricing scheme in 2019 and will allow the purchasing of carbon credits starting in 2024. However, do voluntary carbon credits actually work? Kontinentalist has a snappy data-driven feature that allows you to sift through the noise.
THE XYLOM'S RECENT STORIES
“We Are Suffering”: Despite Steps Taken, Gas Flaring Still Threatens Livelihoods in Niger Delta
- Nigeria has reduced its gas flaring by a third since 2019. But that is a function of reduced oil production levels, not of any regulatory success. Ekpali Saint speaks to Niger Delta residents who are bearing the brunt of environmental health impacts:
Residents of a Rural Arkansas County Grapple With Endemic Gun Violence
- Rural gun homicides have often been overshadowed by violence in cities. But they are taking their toll on small communities ill-equipped to deal with the challenges. KFF Health News' Renuka Rayasam heads to Phillips County, Arkansas, which had the country’s highest per capita rate of gun homicides:
The Dark Side of Involuntary Hospitalization
- Elizabeth Lin speaks to advocates whose lived experience informs their calls for reforming America's patchwork mental health support system. This story is published in partnership with the National Association of Science Writers Mentoring Program.
A Journey Through My Microbiome: An Immigrant’s Perspective on a Changing Gut
- When Manasvi Verma moved over 8,000 miles from New Delhi, India to St. Louis, she ate less of her Dadi's kadhi, but more of her roommate's mom's chicken noodle casserole. How has that changed her from the inside out and the outside in?
If Phylogenetic Sense Be Something Biologists Wish
- Nearly two decades in, researchers are still debating which creature is the closest living relative to all animals. Are new methods getting them any closer? Rohini Subrahmanyam asks.