Q&A with Jeremy Jojola, One of Denver’s Best Investigative Journal
Jeremy Jojola, an investigative reporter for 9News Denver, has been threatened by neo-Nazis — in person and online. Here, he discusses the mental health struggles that journalists face, privacy concerns on social media, and gun control in Colorado.
Q: You deleted your Twitter account for a bit. What led you to do this? Most journalists feel they must have Twitter accounts to promote their work.
I started using Twitter to cover a court case in Taos, New Mexico years ago. I realized this platform was going to be amazing for journalism. I have been on Twitter since then but over the years we started seeing attacks on the press and the media at 9News. Twitter became a very toxic world and people were using it to anonymously sling insults at journalists and constantly be demeaning. In the last few years, I have been covering groups with right wing extremist views in Denver that are affiliated with neo-Nazis and white supremacists. From reporting on groups like Proud boys and Patriot Front to publishing a profile on a highly regarded neo-Nazi named James Mason, things started getting really ugly for me on Twitter. Not only was I getting pointed threats in the online public sphere, but there is a lot that I did not share. Every morning, I would get these direct messages from anonymous accounts that were very gross and disgusting. It was clear that it was really affecting my mental health. I’d walk out of the house looking over my shoulder waiting for somebody to pop out in my front yard. Eventually, I did have three neo-Nazis visit my home. After that I continued getting nonstop threats and right-wing accounts were constantly tagging me and my followers on things that I would post. It became such an annoyance, such a mental strain, just to deal with it and navigate it. I decided, you know what? I’m quitting indefinitely. Maybe I’ll come back, maybe I won’t. A few months after I quit, my mental space was great, but there was something lacking in my reporting because Twitter was such an enhancer for my engagement with the community as you can reveal your work in real time and get real time feedback. And I won’t lie, I love the dopamine fix. So, I got back on and one of the reasons was because Twitter made a decent, concerted effort in banning the accounts that were constantly harassing me. And it has been great since. It wasn’t nearly as bad as when I left.
Q: In an article I read, you say that extreme tones on the internet have gotten worse since the pandemic started. Why do you think that is?
The pandemic really did a number on the collective mental health of this country. The rules that we’ve had to follow for righteous reasons, such as masking and getting vaccinated, have really put a damper on people’s lifestyles. People were looking for a place to put their outrage. Historically, the media have always been a proxy for someone’s fists online. With Donald Trump taking office in 2016, and the added pandemic, media became this perfect stew for people to attack the press. As a local reporter, people who live in the community see us online and know we work in mainstream media. They often see us as part of the national media, and there is a clear difference. We become the lightning rod for a lot of people’s anger.
Q: An article by Bailey Dick, a Loyola alum, talks about stress and trauma that journalists experience as a subgroup of wars, drug conflicts, natural disasters, etc. Do you feel that there is any stigma in modern day journalism towards reaching out for help with mental health to deal with these experiences?
It’s still a learning process for me. When journalists enter this field, they are often told by news managers, “You have to have a thick skin.” I heard that and I told myself, I’m going to have thick skin. I’m going to put everything that affects me emotionally that I see as a reporter and shell that mentally. This claim can be very toxic in our industry because we are denying our humanity and we are denying our own ability to process things we encounter like mass shootings, trauma, car accidents, fires. When we come face to face with victims who are experiencing the worst days of their life, we become sponges of those emotional feelings. You are supposed to take your pen and pad and go out and be tough, get the facts, come back to report the news, and your day is done. There was a school shooting that happened in Denver in May of 2019. I had a discussion over the phone with a young woman who was at school when it happened, and it really impacted me deeply and changed my life in a way. After this very difficult phone call, I ended up in a spiral of partaking in unhealthy behaviors, and I admittedly was suffering with depression. I did not go to therapy, which was a mistake. And I think it all comes down to being conditioned to shelve our emotions. But when we do that over the years, those emotions tend to circle back. That is why we have high alcoholism in journalism and journalists who end up leaving the industry and burning out because of that philosophy. That is something we need to rectify and acknowledge.
Q: You handle a lot of heavy stories that can put you in uncomfortable positions. You recently received the Don Bolles Medal for it. What drives you to do this kind of work as a journalist?
When I was 17, I decided I wanted to be a person who could go out, be a storyteller, and prompt change. I strongly believe in the role of a journalist as someone who is fundamental to our democracy and to the health of our society. Without journalism we have darkness and things that are swept under the rug. We need it now more than ever, especially after January 6th. We are dealing with the pandemic and governments overseeing public health. We need journalists to question those in power to make sure that policies are administered in the right way. For me it is something that has been in my blood since I was 17 or 18 years old. I will never get away from it. I am always going to be a journalist at heart. I love writing. I love talking with people. I love uncovering things. My role as a local journalist is very important and it’s a role I take seriously. It is a deeper calling than a job.
Q: You published a story about 21-year-old Isabella Thallas, who was shot by a man with a police officer’s AK-47 that failed to be reported as stollen. With the recent King Soopers massacre, what are your opinions on Colorado’s efforts to end gun violence?
I think guns have inherently become part of an American identity, just like apple pie. There is a big segment of the population that does not like that, and there is a big segment of the population that is convinced that we must have guns. I remember when Sandy Hook happened, and we got news of all those children that died. That was a turning point in our country where we realized that we are willing to allow children to die over and over again so that we can keep our guns. We continue to have these school shootings and mass shootings and teen gun violence here in Aurora and Denver. I don’t know where it is going to go, and I do not see any solution anytime soon.
Q: What is a piece of advice that you would give to a student going into the field of journalism?
I wish I could travel back in time and tell myself not to take yourself too seriously. There were times in my early 20’s when I almost walked away because I messed up a fact or a pronunciation on air. I got bombarded with emails and angry phone calls. You have to weather the storm and accept you are going to fail but learn from those failures. I still make mistakes, every now and then we oversee something that we should have seen earlier in our reporting. Own up to those mistakes and do not try to run away or bury them. Going back to the whole having a thick skin philosophy, throw that out the window. If you really want to be a journalist, you have to have an inherent curiosity about your community. You must have a care about the welfare of your community. People distrust the media and a lot of times do not like reporters. However, they do turn to journalism when something happens and they need answers, like in natural disasters or major mass trauma events. People do not go to TikTok to find verifiable facts. They still tune into TV news and mainstream print media for information because people know that when it makes print or broadcast, those are viable sources.
