Texas Tribune journalist Marissa Evans spoke about her investigation of maternal mortality in Texas at Syracuse University on Tuesday.

Evans’ story, “Dangerous Deliveries,” is a look into maternal mortality — the deaths of women in childbirth — and how the state government is contributing to a high mortality rate. The story she wrote for The Tribune resulted in a special state Legislature session to discuss the issue. Evans and her team won an Online Journalism Award for explanatory reporting from a small newsroom.

“We are so excited about the award and the potential that this piece has to impact many, even outside of Texas,” Evans said.

About 30 people attended the healthcare writer’s presentation in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Evans said the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force released a report in July 2016 stating the number of women who died in childbirth had doubled. She and Chris Essig, a data journalist and graphic designer for The Tribune, pored over state data, spoke to women who received inadequate postpartum care and attended the funeral of Michelle Zavala, who died just nine days after giving birth.

The story nearly died before publication when state lawmakers dropped a bombshell: Texas would change the way it counted maternal mortality deaths. Evans said she wanted the story out by Christmas, but the latest development threw off her schedule entirely.

“I spent most of Christmas break broken-hearted,” Evans said.

The Tribune ran a list of resources for pregnant women that is still being updated by the media outlet’s staff as a follow-up to Evans’ story.

After her presentation, Evans took questions from professors, students and staff in the audience.

One professor asked Evans how she worked with her editors on the maternal mortality investigation.

“This was my first long-form kind of story,” Evans said. “My editors helped me handle the stress well. Plus, I wrote them memos to keep them posted on where I was, so that helped.”

Evans is the first speaker to come to Newhouse through the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium. The Campus Consortium is a network of partnerships between the Pulitzer Center and communications schools. Newhouse’s partnership with the consortium began this year.

Published on October 3, 2018 at 1:40 am