Telling untold stories of people who are disenfranchised, vulnerable or oppressed shines the light on injustice and inequality. If you’re passionate about social justice and exposing wrongdoing, this is the specialization for you. Building upon Medill’s foundation of solid reporting skills, you’ll learn how to conduct interviews, dig deeply and ultimately produce journalism that can make a real difference in Chicago and beyond.
The Social Justice specialization focuses on journalism that makes the world a better place. Social justice issues you may explore include criminal justice, drug policy, mental health services, housing segregation, homelessness, poverty and immigration, just to name a few.
You'll produce stories for Medill News Service, which partners with news outlets to publish your work. These clips will form the basis for your portfolio, demonstrating your real-world journalism experience. Your reporting might take you to locations across the U.S.; previous classes have reported on homelessness and drug addiction in Puerto Rico and the payday loan industry in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Social Justice specialization starts in the fall quarter.
If you’ve always wanted to find the answers to difficult societal questions and pursue stories that produce change, you can do that and more in the Social Justice specialization.
By spending much of your time outside the classroom reporting and gathering news, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of urban communities. You’ll learn to analyze diverse issues and take into account a variety of viewpoints and voices—including many not typically given a platform in the mainstream media. It’s time consuming and intense but also satisfying.
Patty Loew is a professor at Medill and director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at Northwestern. A member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Loew is a former broadcast journalist in public and commercial television.
Diaz has an extensive background in journalism as the former editor and publisher of The Chicago Reporter, a nonprofit investigative news organization that focuses on exposing systemic racial and socioeconomic injustice through data-driven journalism.
Lydersen is lecturer and co-director of the Social Justice News Nexus. She also works as a reporter, covering energy for Midwest Energy News and freelancing for other outlets including the Better Government Association, The Washington Post, People Magazine and The Chicago Reporter.
Katz was awarded the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism for his coverage of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and subsequent cholera epidemic, which he further explored in his award-winning book. He is a regular New York Times contributor and director of the Media & Journalism Initiative at Duke University's John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute.
An award-winning journalist with nearly 30 years experience in newspaper, public relations and government, Ihejirika currently pens the Sun-Times’ “Chicago Chronicles” column. Previously, she served as press secretary for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and operated a niche public relations firm.
Cullen works with the news media and leads NIJC's communications and content strategies to tell stories about the need for fair and humane immigration laws.
