Samantha Freeman

Projects for WTTW

I worked as a production assistant to reporters Carol Marin and Don Moseley in creating two broadcast packages for Chicago’s channel 11 WTTW (PBS). For the piece about chronic pain patients, I filmed B-roll footage, set up for on-camera interviews, communicated with interviewees and drafted the broadcast script. The story about locksmith requirements I pitched to WTTW’s News Director and Executive Producer Jay Smith. I filed several FOIA requests with the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation, scheduled interviews, took photographs and led a team of students in writing the news article.

WTTW News •

As Locksmith License Requirements Set to Expire, Will Illinois Become the ‘Wild West’ Some Critics Fear?

Jennifer Hoppes had just moved into her new Chicago apartment when she and her roommate accidentally locked themselves out.


It was 11 p.m. and Hoppes’ roommate had to pack for an early flight. Desperate and panicked, Hoppes called the locksmith number she found on a sticker pasted to the intercom in her building.


The locksmith arrived within an hour and drilled out her lock saying the only option was to replace it. The next day, her doo...
WTTW News •

Chronic Pain Patients Suffer From Opioid Epidemic Overcorrection

Melzinnia Connolly has one constant companion: her pain.


“By two o’clock this afternoon, I feel like I’m dragging my left side of my body,” Connolly said. “By that night, I’m in sheer pain; only thing I can do is lay down and complain.”


The 66-year-old Norwood Park grandmother has been struggling since 2006, when she awoke with a burning sensation in her feet. It took more than a decade, she said, to arrive at a diagnosis of nerve damag...