IUPUI Journalism alumna Breanna Cooper

Breanna Cooper, B.A.J. ’19, has written about issues such as health, religion, and education for the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the top African-American newspapers in the country and the oldest African-American newspaper in Indianapolis.

Recently, she also faced tear gas and pepper spray while reporting. She has covered Indianapolis protests against racial inequality since they began on May 29, 2020. The protests resulted in clashes between police and demonstrators.

Cooper said she felt a real sense of importance covering issues of racial equality for the Recorder because it’s the fourth oldest Black newspaper in the country.

“It’s important for us to cover these demonstrations — and to speak directly to protesters — because these are issues that directly affect our readers,” Cooper said. “Even if I didn’t work at the Recorder, it would be important to cover because our city, and the rest of the country, is changing because of these demonstrations.”

When Cooper covered the protests, she brought a water bottle filled with milk to rinse her eyes in case tear gas was deployed. She always wore a mask because of COVID-19.

On a “typical” night covering a protest, she reported via social media, mainly Twitter. She tweeted updates from the Recorder’s account, or from her account and retweeted it on the Recorder’s. She also used Facebook Live to cover marches.

“The scariest moment for me was the standoff between protesters and police on June 1,” she said. “We were about a block away from the Governor’s Mansion, and Indiana State Police and IMPD had one end of the street completely blocked off. I was on Facebook Live at the time, and as I panned my phone to show the size of the crowd, I caught a line of police vehicles blocking off the other end of the street. The thought kept going through my mind that, if something were to happen, there would be nowhere for anyone to run. Luckily, protestors were able to turn around and head downtown.”

Cooper said that her time at IUPUI and the Campus Citizen – IUPUI’s independent, student-run media – helped prepare her for this type of reporting.

“Most if not all of the [IUPUI] journalism instructors have real-world experience working in the field,” she said. “The tools I learned from professors like Chris Lamb and Michael Jackson helped me know what to do to keep my head above water and get the job done.”