This award comes with a $10,000 prize, which will be split between the journalists on the project. I bring this up bc over the past two weeks I've received enough money from awards to pay back the severance I'd owe from breaking the NDA I signed when I was laid off last year. https://twitter.com/tristanbaurick/status/1311376949495902211

The NDA says I cannot make disparaging comments about Advance or the Advocate. It also says I can’t talk about the NDA. But the NDAs became public record earlier this year. https://www.poynter.org/times-picayune-one-year-later/

That said, I think most people already know I was fired from the Advocate without cause a few weeks ago. And I don’t know that my story adds much to the important conversations happening right now.

Yes, I was the only woman on my reporting team at the Advocate. But it was problematic before I was fired. The environmental team was all white even though environmental issues in this state predominantly affect Black residents.

There are Advocate employees who I greatly admire who are doing the work to take on the diversity issues with the paper. And I'm not here to take away from any of the work they are doing. Of course, I'd like to see the Advocate do the kind of deep digging the LA Times did.

The Times-Picayune fought hard against school integration. And there are many issues that still exist with the paper's coverage. But the money I've received from these awards can't change that. What I do hope to change is the problem of NDAs in our industry.

Today I reached out to Neiman and Poynter to help me find a way to create a fund for journalists to tap into in order not to feel forced to sign NDAs.

Female journalists and journalists of color are disproportionately effected by NDAs because it often means they cannot talk about discriminatory practices in their publications. This needs to end. I am donating $500 toward this fund. I hope other journalists will contribute too.