UNL Professor Teaches Students About Covering Social Justice Incidents Following George Floyd's Murder

April 23, 2021, 6:34 p.m. ·

Graves%20headshot.jpeg
Courtesy: University of Nebraska-Lincoln University Communication


An assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is using her experience covering George Floyd’s murder and protests to teach journalism students how to cover social justice events.

Chris Graves was a managing editor at Minnesota Public Radio during the time of Floyd’s murder before becoming an assistant professor in UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Graves said covering the murder of Floyd and the following protests were the most frightening and surreal crime events she has covered.

“I’ve never been more frightened than I was at the end of May,” Graves said.

Graves has covered crime and social justice events since the 90s, but she said she has never had to cover an event of this magnitude. Now she wants to help student journalists prepare and understand how to cover stories that deal with race crime and social justice.

“These kinds of conversations need to be in every journalism course. Every single one," Graves said. "Not just we’re going to look at race in the media. That’s valuable too, but I’m a proponent that change happens in bits and pieces."

She hopes she can eventually teach a class focused on covering social justice issues and stories focused on race topics.