2L Jane Wiertel spent last summer working as a legal intern for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. In her capacity at the Pulitzer Center, Wiertel worked at the intersection of journalism and the law, investigating and reporting on several legal issues facing the nation and world.
The product of her research, an article titled, “News Analysis: Illinois Protects Books, Missouri Removes Them” was recently featured by contest winners and finalists for the Pulitzer Center’s Local Letters for Global Change contest. The contest asked students grades K-12 to write a letter to a local representative explaining an important issue and their proposed solution. Students call on their elected representatives to take action, and provide creative solutions that demonstrate research, empathy and an understanding of the systemic issues underlying everyday problems.
The first-place winner, James Wan, and finalist Avni Chidella cited Wiertel’s research and article to support their conclusions. Wiertel’s article, linked here, compares the book banning legislation between the states of Missouri and Illinois.