Provide names of other journalists involved.
Photographer Joe Amon, videographer Mahala Gaylord
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Oct. 7, 8 and 9, and Nov. 26, 2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
“Fallen Angel” spent months on the street with Denver heroin addicts who had come to their addictions through the burgeoning epidemic in painkiller abuse. It grew out of previous investigative and news stories about painkiller overdoses in Colorado, and whether authorities were attacking the problem with any useful measures. We asked what was behind the panhandling signs that Denver commuters see every day, and explained in narrative form how people arrive on the street curbs and what their lives are truly like. We also followed one young addict as she tried to put her life back together by jumping on a bus back home to rural Wisconsin. Photographer Joe Amon practically embedded himself with some of the addicts for much of their day, over months, and videographer Mahala Gaylord produced stunning short documentaries.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
State death certificate records to generate charts on growth in Colorado opiate overdose deaths; CDC statistics and tables on opiate abuse and overdose; state court databases for arrest records, trial outcomes, etc. These statistics and fact-checks, while not always evident in every line of the story, allowed the writer to tell the full stories with credibility and narrative clarity.
Explain types of human sources used.
Extensive time spent on the street with heroin addicts, as they panhandled, sought drugs, exchanged needles, sought new places to sleep, suffered through court dates and bedded down in trash bins. Wide-ranging interviews with doctors, counselors, addiction experts, homeless shelter employees, family members of addicts, HARM reduction advocates and others.
Results:
Overwhelming reaction from public appreciating the look behind the lives of people they see every day on street corners; huge response from former addicts and families of addicts saying we had gotten it right and needed to do more; The Colorado Drug Sentencing Task Force cited the series by name in voting for altered penalties targeting dealers more while steering smalltime users toward treatment; state lawmakers will introduce legislation encouraging widespread distribution of the overdose-reversing drug Naloxone
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
Follow up story, included here as Nov. 26, 2012 entry, explained the overdose death of an addict after the series ran, and why she did not want to be included in the original series, but how her family wanted her to be written about post-mortem in order to further explain addiction. The followup also includes the information that the primary subject/character, Angel, was subsequently picked up as part of a burglary ring in rural Wisconsin as she tried to fund her heroin replacement therapy.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Spend as much time as possible with your subjects, take advantage of interviewing photographers and using videography transcripts to add to notes and fill in blanks, even when telling one person’s story interview as many family members and “experts” possible to add context, even if those notes never seem to appear in the story they will build the narrative.