Uploaded January 2022 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
This session at ScienceWriters2021 focused on how journalists cover race and science, using a close reading of "Why America's Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis," from The New York Times Magazine of April 11, 2018. It was the plenary session of a workshop on the intersection of science journalism and social justice, organized by CASW with support from the Kavli Foundation.
Nicholas St. Fleur of STAT opens the session by talking with the article's author, Linda Villarosa; her editor at the Times; and a behavioral health scientist whose work was featured in Villarosa's article. In the second half of the session, Villarosa returns to talk about the larger questions of writing about social justice issues with scholars whose work examines the context and reality of Black maternal and infant health. That panel is moderated by Evelynn Hammonds, chair of Harvard’s Department of the History of Science.
The two-part conversation was organized to provide viewers with a better understanding of the journalistic challenges and choices involved in writing articles like Villarosa’s; the ways that reporters of color draw on unique perspectives and experiences to produce works of unusual power, sensitivity, and effectiveness; and ideas for ways that science journalism can be more inclusive and effective in unearthing truths and serving all readers.
This session at ScienceWriters2021 focused on how journalists cover race and science, using a close reading of "Why America's Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis," from The New York Times Magazine of April 11, 2018. It was the plenary session of a workshop on the intersection of science journalism and social justice, organized by CASW with support from the Kavli Foundation.
Nicholas St. Fleur of STAT opens the session by talking with the article's author, Linda Villarosa; her editor at the Times; and a behavioral health scientist whose work was featured in Villarosa's article. In the second half of the session, Villarosa returns to talk about the larger questions of writing about social justice issues with scholars whose work examines the context and reality of Black maternal and infant health. That panel is moderated by Evelynn Hammonds, chair of Harvard’s Department of the History of Science.
The two-part conversation was organized to provide viewers with a better understanding of the journalistic challenges and choices involved in writing articles like Villarosa’s; the ways that reporters of color draw on unique perspectives and experiences to produce works of unusual power, sensitivity, and effectiveness; and ideas for ways that science journalism can be more inclusive and effective in unearthing truths and serving all readers.
