4 ms·

This is the series: https://www.cincinnati.com/pages/interactives/seven-days-of-heroin-epidemic-cincinnati/ https://www.cincinnati.com/pages/interactives/seven

by pgrote 8y ago

This is the series: https://www.cincinnati.com/pages/interactives/seven-days-of-heroin-epidemic-cincinnati/ https://www.cincinnati.com/pages/interactives/seven-days-of-... It is a tremendous work of crafting mixed media.

toomanybeersies 8y ago
This kind of reporting is becoming an endangered species. It requires a lot of man-hours, and isn't as profitable as the minimal effort required to regurgitate whatever the latest sensational scandal is.
- IAmEveryone 8y ago
  I love how even a story about excellent journalism can be turned into an insult of the profession at large. As far as I can tell, there is an avalanche (that’s a reference) of excellent, deeply reported stories, making good use of technology, on important subjects both titilating and not. Just go through the other award winners, or the webby award nominees in the relevant categories.
  - FullyFunctional 8y ago
    Maybe it's just me but I didn't read the comment that way. I'm sure everyone in the business would prefer to do that kind of deep reporting, but the economy of the business just doesn't reward that. It's a real problem but I don't think anyone is blaming the journalists. If anything, the ones to blame are the people reading the scandalous stories. I'm certainly not perfect, but I'm increasingly good at ignoring click-bait links. EDIT: fixed a critical typo
    - shubb 8y ago
      I think the ways people find news on the net are also to blame. I knew someone who worked for a company that monitored newswires and other media all day watching for breaking stories. They then rewrote them in an SEO or viral friendly way, propagated them through social media using bots or an influencer network. By being the first to publish something that ranked on news aggregators, they could pull in views and get ad money. If the story was from a subscription newswire I guess this is okay. If you are writing a story reporting someone else reported a story you are kinda stealing revenue from the people who did the hunting. But whoever does that will win, and writing a story that will spread then getting it to the aggregators is a skill.
  - toomanybeersies 8y ago
    I'm not criticizing journalists. It's not the journos who are deciding to write clickbait, that's a corporate decision.
  - Kalium 8y ago
    > I love how even a story about excellent journalism can be turned into an insult of the profession at large. I understand why you feel that way. It's clearly a broadside, aimed squarely at where journalism comes from. Where else can that be but professional journalists? Yet, is it perhaps possible that the comment to which you have taken exception might also be understood by some to be one in the direction of the business models that suppport, fund, and direct professional journalists?
- rrcaptain 8y ago
  It's kind of ironic to hear that on Hacker News considering the decline in local investigative reporting is largely due to social media and ad-tech in general.
tonysdg 8y ago
Gods above, "tremendous" is an understatement. I don't think I'd be strong enough to work on a story like that.
rolandog 8y ago
It's so hard-hitting. I just read the first day and was left crying for all those people... Actual people destroying their lives and irreversibly impacting their loved one's lives. All lawmakers should be forced to read this article, maybe they'll do something about it if they come to realize that you can't tax the dead.
jacquesm 8y ago
That's so painful to read. I wouldn't know any of those people because they live half a world away, however I know many examples nearby. Just one excerpt: "Elliana, who turns eight months old today, is here for a checkup at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She’s a patient at a special clinic that treats babies for neonatal abstinence syndrome, which occurs when babies are born to mothers addicted to heroin. The infants can suffer tremors, sleeplessness, seizures and other withdrawal symptoms. Elliana gurgles and wobbles a bit when Uebel sits her on the examining table. As she checks out the baby, Uebel quizzes Gaffney on Elliana’s progress. “Is she holding things?” “She takes stuff and then drops it out of her chair,” Gaffney says. “She looks at it, then she looks at me and laughs.” “Good,” Uebel says. The clinic’s goal is to monitor the babies, but also to support the mothers. Many, like Gaffney, used heroin and other opiates for years. Gaffney, 28, quit cold turkey after learning she was pregnant. She’s living now with the baby at First Step Home, a treatment center in Walnut Hills. They plan to move into an apartment together soon. After years of addiction, Gaffney’s goals are modest. She wants to raise her child in a normal home. She wants a normal life. Uebel finishes the examination. “She looks real, real good,” she says. Gaffney is relieved. She scoops Elliana into her arms and takes her appointment card for her next visit to the clinic in December. “See you then,” she says. (Ten days later, Gaffney is dead from a heroin overdose.)"
- falkenb0t 8y ago
  wow, that really does hurt to read.
- tonysdg 8y ago
  Follow-up story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/12/16/seven-days-heroin-ellianas-story/905353001/ https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/12/16/seven-days-...
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    Those parents are pretty amazing. To see their daughter go down that line and then to step up to the place and do it all over again in their old age.

by pgrote 8y ago

toomanybeersies 8y ago

This kind of reporting is becoming an endangered species. It requires a lot of man-hours, and isn't as profitable as the minimal effort required to regurgitate whatever the latest sensational scandal is.

IAmEveryone 8y ago
I love how even a story about excellent journalism can be turned into an insult of the profession at large. As far as I can tell, there is an avalanche (that’s a reference) of excellent, deeply reported stories, making good use of technology, on important subjects both titilating and not. Just go through the other award winners, or the webby award nominees in the relevant categories.
- FullyFunctional 8y ago
  Maybe it's just me but I didn't read the comment that way. I'm sure everyone in the business would prefer to do that kind of deep reporting, but the economy of the business just doesn't reward that. It's a real problem but I don't think anyone is blaming the journalists. If anything, the ones to blame are the people reading the scandalous stories. I'm certainly not perfect, but I'm increasingly good at ignoring click-bait links. EDIT: fixed a critical typo
  - shubb 8y ago
    I think the ways people find news on the net are also to blame. I knew someone who worked for a company that monitored newswires and other media all day watching for breaking stories. They then rewrote them in an SEO or viral friendly way, propagated them through social media using bots or an influencer network. By being the first to publish something that ranked on news aggregators, they could pull in views and get ad money. If the story was from a subscription newswire I guess this is okay. If you are writing a story reporting someone else reported a story you are kinda stealing revenue from the people who did the hunting. But whoever does that will win, and writing a story that will spread then getting it to the aggregators is a skill.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  I'm not criticizing journalists. It's not the journos who are deciding to write clickbait, that's a corporate decision.
- Kalium 8y ago
  > I love how even a story about excellent journalism can be turned into an insult of the profession at large. I understand why you feel that way. It's clearly a broadside, aimed squarely at where journalism comes from. Where else can that be but professional journalists? Yet, is it perhaps possible that the comment to which you have taken exception might also be understood by some to be one in the direction of the business models that suppport, fund, and direct professional journalists?
rrcaptain 8y ago
It's kind of ironic to hear that on Hacker News considering the decline in local investigative reporting is largely due to social media and ad-tech in general.

tonysdg 8y ago

Gods above, "tremendous" is an understatement. I don't think I'd be strong enough to work on a story like that.

rolandog 8y ago

It's so hard-hitting. I just read the first day and was left crying for all those people... Actual people destroying their lives and irreversibly impacting their loved one's lives. All lawmakers should be forced to read this article, maybe they'll do something about it if they come to realize that you can't tax the dead.

jacquesm 8y ago

That's so painful to read. I wouldn't know any of those people because they live half a world away, however I know many examples nearby. Just one excerpt: "Elliana, who turns eight months old today, is here for a checkup at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She’s a patient at a special clinic that treats babies for neonatal abstinence syndrome, which occurs when babies are born to mothers addicted to heroin. The infants can suffer tremors, sleeplessness, seizures and other withdrawal symptoms. Elliana gurgles and wobbles a bit when Uebel sits her on the examining table. As she checks out the baby, Uebel quizzes Gaffney on Elliana’s progress. “Is she holding things?” “She takes stuff and then drops it out of her chair,” Gaffney says. “She looks at it, then she looks at me and laughs.” “Good,” Uebel says. The clinic’s goal is to monitor the babies, but also to support the mothers. Many, like Gaffney, used heroin and other opiates for years. Gaffney, 28, quit cold turkey after learning she was pregnant. She’s living now with the baby at First Step Home, a treatment center in Walnut Hills. They plan to move into an apartment together soon. After years of addiction, Gaffney’s goals are modest. She wants to raise her child in a normal home. She wants a normal life. Uebel finishes the examination. “She looks real, real good,” she says. Gaffney is relieved. She scoops Elliana into her arms and takes her appointment card for her next visit to the clinic in December. “See you then,” she says. (Ten days later, Gaffney is dead from a heroin overdose.)"

falkenb0t 8y ago
wow, that really does hurt to read.
tonysdg 8y ago
Follow-up story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/12/16/seven-days-heroin-ellianas-story/905353001/ https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/12/16/seven-days-...
- jacquesm 8y ago
  Those parents are pretty amazing. To see their daughter go down that line and then to step up to the place and do it all over again in their old age.