MU professor straddles intersection of law, journalism

MU law professor Richard Reuben is trying to use his expertise in dispute resolution and his background as a journalist to promote better coverage of conflict in the media.

Through the Center for the Study of Conflict, Law and the Media, Reuben promotes the idea of interest-based journalism, a focus on the issues underlying conflicts instead of basing coverage on superficial events and commentary. This type of reporting embraces the root issues of a conflict rather than an event-driven, sometimes shallow report of legal matters and disputes.

The center, a collaboration of MU’s schools of law and journalism, aims to improve news coverage of conflict and legal affairs as well as to research conflict. The center also offers degree programs and certificates for students interested in both law and journalism.

Reuben explains that traditional reporting can sometimes inadequately portray the depth of a conflict and, in order to better inform the public, journalists need to incorporate conflict theories into their reporting.

Reuben was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991 when he was writing columns for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the San Francisco Daily Journal.