STORY PITCH: WVU students to investigate women’s incarceration through collaborative journalism project

What’s the news? 
This fall, students in the West Virginia University  Reed College of Media will partner with the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication in a shared reporting and advocacy communications project.

The two-year effort, funded by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, will document the issue of women’s incarceration in West Virginia and Oklahoma, the two states with the highest levels of imprisoned women.

Quotes and Comments
“This solutions-oriented media approach will create more awareness and advance the public’s understanding of an important issue that impacts both of our states. These kinds of projects allow students and faculty to pursue their creative passions while working for a purpose, a principle that informs everything we do in the college.” --Maryanne Reed, dean of the WVU Reed College of Media

"We have the opportunity to not only draw on the expertise within West Virginia University-- in the law school, criminology and sociology and other places where people are experts in this issue-- we also have the experts to draw from our peers in another institution who have different research experiences, different training from the perspective of journalism and strategic communications that provides us an opportunity to learn from one another." --Geah Pressgrove, assistant professor in the Reed College of Media 

Resources
Link to original story: WVU and OU partner for women’s incarceration investigative journalism project
Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
WVU Reed College of Media
Videos available for download

Target Audiences
People interested in investigative journalism 
People interested in women and gender issues
People interested in policy and the justice system

-WVU-