黑料门

Tribal nations and the pandemic

NBC News published Cannon鈥檚 Pulitzer-supported reporting about hurdles and in late 2020. Crisscrossing the country to speak to tribal peoples, government agencies, and medical experts, Cannon examines how tribal nations in the United States have experienced the pandemic, including skepticism about taking the vaccine, its equitable distribution, and the daunting logistics of delivering the vaccine to tribal members living on vast and often remote reservations.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much riding on tribal communities鈥� access to therapeutics and the vaccine,鈥� Cannon says, noting that Native Americans are 3.5 times more likely to contract COVID-19 than white people, according to the CDC. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a hesitancy to trust the vaccine because of the historical trauma and experiences the tribal nations have had with the federal government,鈥� Cannon says. 鈥淭ribal leaders also expressed concern about their clinical trials鈥攊n terms of pharmaceutical companies gathering data, informed consent, and representation.鈥�

One of the biggest takeaways from her reporting, she says, 鈥渨as learning on a granular level just how much tribal communities have had to take it upon themselves to protect their communities and sacred practices throughout the pandemic. They have faced steep challenges, but individuals at every level in these communities have stepped up.鈥�

Ready for anything

As a journalism student, Cannon got to learn from some of the best in the business. She interned at ABC鈥檚 This Week with George Stephanopoulos, where she curated background research notes for interviews and roundtable segments and wrote breaking news stories on headliner guests. She also interned for NBC News鈥檚 chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell. 

鈥淎ndrea taught me to keep the human side of a story as a central focus,鈥� Cannon says of watching Mitchell report on the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic. She also learned that being prepared for any eventuality was key to good reporting. For instance, on those mornings when the Supreme Court announced major rulings, she鈥檇 rely on her legal training and knowledge to guide her work.  

鈥淢y legal education prepared me to review all the possible cases and all their potential outcomes and write one-page briefs for Andrea so she鈥檇 be ready to respond to anything,鈥� Cannon says.

As she reflects on all that鈥檚 happened in the past year, Cannon recalls walking past CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash during the presidential impeachment trial last January on Capitol Hill, thinking, 鈥淎m I out of my league here?鈥�

鈥淏ut then I remembered my time at Loyola鈥攆lipping a coin in moot court to see which side of a case I鈥檇 be arguing or being prepared to present on any number of cases if I were called on in class,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 knew I was prepared.鈥� 鈥揅arla Beecher