IJNotes: An IJNet podcast

In 2020, Harvard College’s student newspaper, The Crimson, broke a story about sexual harassment allegations against three professors in the anthropology department. 

The article garnered a strong reaction from the student body, leading to student protests criticizing the university's complicity in the matter. It brought the anthropology department under scrutiny, as well as Harvard’s practices of handling such complaints, generating calls to reform the university’s sexual misconduct recourse practices. In June 2024, John Comaroff, who was implicated in the article — retired without emeritus status, an honor that the university strips only in rare cases. 

This work of student journalism exposed an injustice at the university that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. It garnered loud reactions from the student body. And it spurred a response from the university.

To learn more about this reporting and the work that went into it, I spoke with James Bikales, the journalist who broke the story with his team at The Crimson. We discuss the role of student journalists in holding their institutions accountable through one particular piece of remarkable student journalism.

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For the second IJNotes episode of our series on student journalism, we spoke with David Cuillier, director of The Freedom of Information Project at UF’s Brechner Center for the Advancement of the First Amendment, about how students can use public records in their reporting to tell stories like the investigation conducted by the Independent Florida Alligator. Cuillier has served as president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, is a member of the Federal FOIA Advisory Committee, and has testified before Congress on constitutional First Amendment civil rights. Over the past two decades, he has taught thousands of students and journalists how to acquire public records.

During our discussion, Cuillier detailed why public records are valuable for student journalists and ways students use them to strengthen coverage of their campuses and communities.

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Amid the ever-evolving state of technology, regular mass layoffs, and the collapse of local news, student journalists can struggle to figure out what steps they need to take to enter and succeed in the industry once they graduate. 

In the first episode of our new series on student journalism, we spoke with Chip Mahaney, emerging talent leader at E.W. Scripps Company. Mahaney recruits, mentors, and develops college and early-career professionals, making him an expert in what it takes to break into the journalism industry. 

We delve into topics such as how to stand out in competitive marketing, how to utilize LinkedIn, networking tips, navigating career decisions, and more.

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Reproductive health access has become a major issue in U.S. elections in the nearly two years since Roe v. Wade was overturned. 

A series of elections and ballot initiatives in which reproductive rights have been at stake have driven high turnout, and more critical decisions for voters are on the horizon. Meanwhile, human rights advocates and activists link the issue to civil and human rights, specifically, the right to privacy and bodily autonomy.

In our latest IJNotes episode on reporting on reproductive health, we spoke with Regina Mahone, a senior editor at The Nation magazine and co-host of The A Files: A Secret History of Abortion podcast alongside Renee Bracey Sherman. Mahone and Sherman are also co-authors of the forthcoming book, “Liberating Abortion.”

Mahone discussed how reproductive rights are linked to the health of democracy in the U.S., and detailed how reporters can cover the wide-ranging issue in the context of the country’s upcoming presidential election. Listen here: 

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In Latin America, legislation and debates around reproductive rights are moving in different directions. Abortion has been banned in Nicaragua and Guatemala in recent years, but other countries such as Mexico and Colombia have decriminalized or even legalized it.

In Brazil, Latin America’s largest nation, abortion laws remain restrictive. Today, abortion is only allowed in the case of rape or incest, if there is a risk of death for the pregnant woman, or in cases of anencephaly, a serious, fatal birth defect.

In our latest IJNotes episode on reporting on reproductive health, I spoke with Ester Pinheiro, journalism producer at Revista AzMina, a Brazilian outlet that covers stories with a gender focus. Pinheiro is also the founder of Feminismos del Sur, a podcast that addresses gender issues in the Global South. 

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In India, as in many other countries, abortion is a divisive social and political issue. Although it is legal to get an abortion in India, there are many obstacles to obtaining one.

In our latest podcast, we spoke with two reproductive health professionals from CommonHealth India, a coalition that advocates for increased access to sexual and reproductive health care for women and marginalized communities. Dr. Alka Barua leads the organization’s abortion portfolio and Sanjeeta Gauri is a consultant on maternal health. They  discuss the alternative methods people turn to when denied access to abortion services, and bring to light under-reported topics and ways to discover new data that journalists can use  to inform coverage. 

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For our latest podcast on reporting on reproductive health, Sofia Heartney with the ICFJ communications team spoke with Dr. Camilla Fitzsimons, a professor in the department of adult and community education at Maynooth University and the author of “Repealed: Ireland’s Unfinished Fight for Reproductive Rights.” 

In this episode Fitzsimons discusses the role of journalists in the movement for reproductive rights, how reporters can continue to cover the issue even after abortion access moves off the front page, and intersectional approaches journalists should consider on the relationship between reproductive access, race and immigration.

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Mis- and disinformation surrounding reproductive health is not new. But since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the U.S. in June 2022, the consequences of the vast amounts of false information seeking to affect the reproductive choices of millions of Americans have made their way front and center in people’s minds. 

In our second IJNotes episode on reproductive health reporting, IJNet’s Disarming Disinformation Intern, Mya Zepp, spoke with Felice Freyer, a health care reporter at the Boston Globe and president of the Association of Health Care Journalists. 

Freyer discusses the prevalence and impact of disinformation surrounding abortion and reproductive health, and what journalists should do to promote credible information on abortion safety and access. Listen here: 

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Our new IJNotes podcast series will dive into reproductive health, how journalists globally are reporting on this highly personal and political issue, and the ways in which reporters can accurately and ethically cover the many related topics. To kick off the series, I spoke with Maya Miller, a reproductive health reporter at the Gulf States Newsroom, on the role local journalism plays in covering reproductive rights. 

In this episode, Miller discusses the importance of local journalism, how restricted access to abortion coincides with maternal health deserts across the Gulf States, and the ways reporters can best cover Dobbs’ consequences in their own communities.

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In early June, environmental journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira went missing in the Amazon while reporting on Indigenous peoples in the state of Amazonas. The two were later found to have been murdered, in one of the most high-profile kilings of environmental journalists in recent years, wich have also taken place in Mexico, India and Colombia. 

In the aftermath of the killings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, we sat down with Jonathan Watts, global environmental editor at The Guardian, who has been reporting on the Amazon for over 10 years. Currently based in the Amazon, Watts is also the founder of Sumaúma, a new environmental platform that aims to place the rainforest at the center of global reporting. 

During the interview we discuss the challenges environmental journalists face in their reporting, why their reporting  brings risks similar to those faced by war reporters, and how journalists can manage threats to their safety.

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