Melanie Hicken

@CNN senior investigative writer. Mom. NYU adjunct prof. SU/NYU grad. Loves investigative reporting & good wine. [email protected].

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

@NYMag @caitmosc My Arfid kiddo's number one fear food is sweets. After a classmate commented that she must be the "only kid in the world who doesn't like candy," she barely ate anything for four days.

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

My 7-year-old daughter was hospitalized with Arfid in January and recently graduated from an intensive 3-month treatment program and this is hands down the best piece of journalism I have ever seen on Arfid. Hats off to @NYMag and @caitmosc for really important work.

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

ARFID — or avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder — is a fairly new addition to the modern parenting lexicon: a behavior far more severe than pickiness, it’s an eating disorder provoked not by the desire to change one’s body but by the fear of food itself. It can range from eating a very limited number of foods to refusing food altogether Only in the past few years has the acronym begun circulating on playgrounds and in school nurses’ offices, and it’s not uncommon for parents to first stumble upon it on their own—on Reddit threads, in Facebook groups, on Instagram or TikTok.

While classified as an eating disorder, ARFID may be more easily understood in many children as an anxiety disorder that fixates on food. Its rise coincides with a pediatric diagnostic boom in mental health conditions as more and more children are treated for generalized anxiety disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and ADHD—raising the question of whether they are a generation maladapted to the world around them or the first generation to be thoroughly understood. ARFID often orbits these diagnoses, a disorder that can become the most physical manifestation of what’s happening in a child’s mind.

Read Caitlin Moscatello’s full cover story here: https://t.co/GazJ4l2q5L

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

@NYMag @caitmosc Arfid is sadly still incredibly misunderstood, and it's been eye opening as a parent to see how America's obsession with food can make it extremely hard for a kid with Arfid to simply exist in the world.

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

@_hamilton_matt It's actually stunning how much Americans love watching LA literally combust.

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

@juliadahl @nyu_ajo @CNN @juliadahl exactly! I mean I honestly don't know if I'd have the bravery to enter the profession right now, and I entered in 2009!

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

As someone who teaches early career journalists at @nyu_ajo and works with them at @cnn, I can't disagree with this more.

Is there any profession than loves to attack itself from within more than journalism? Let's do better.

I rarely ever tweet, but this got me fired up

[Jack Mirkinson @jackmirkinson]

hard to take any media feature that includes this quote too seriously

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

Grateful to the many many sources who helped this report come to fruition, including countless family members, some who at first wondered if we were scammers trying to take advantage of their elderly family members.

[Zach Montellaro @ZachMontellaro]

Great story from CNN on something that many folks in politics *know* is happening, but is so hard to capture: the explosion of small-dollar donations has a really ugly underbelly

[Kyung Lah @KyungLahCNN]

All those political texts hammering your cell phone? Elderly dementia patients are unwittingly fueling political campaigns, losing their life savings. Don't miss our @CNN investigation: https://t.co/1OiKDfH5b4

[Kyung Lah @KyungLahCNN]

More receipts here. Unmasking counterprotesters who attacked UCLA’s pro-Palestine encampment @CNN investigation team reviewed 100s of videos:@blakeellis3 @melhicken @alligordon_ @YahyaGhazala @emsteck @dmedin11 @annamajaCNN
Read the report/see images here:
https://t.co/wuXoSx5gGy

[Kyung Lah @KyungLahCNN]

UCLA counter-protests got bloody. Our @CNN investigation shows you who was behind the violence -- and the ones ID'ed not all students. Video w/@pdicarlocnn @annamajacnn @alligordon @yahyaghazala

[catherine @cat__hamilton5]

Wanted to share one of the most important, hardest stories I’ve ever written.

I appreciate the students who trusted me to convey their experiences of April 30-May 2. Please give it a read.

https://t.co/S6yd8l8X2d

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

“They are out there for the right reasons… they are out there not because they are ‘pro-Hamas.' They are out there because they are outraged by what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza.”

@SenSanders discusses the student anti-war protests sweeping colleges in America.

Watch our full interview.

[Daily Bruin @dailybruin]

25 protesters within the pro-Palestine encampment were hospitalized overnight, a UC Divest at UCLA spokesperson said in a press conference.

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

As a lifelong @latimes reader, current subscriber and someone who started my career at LAT-owned community newspaper, it's breaking my heart to see it yet again become a shell of itself.

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

@haguediva @CPD1617Scanner Hi there, I'm a reporter at CNN and would love to speak with you about this. You can reach me at [email protected].

[Melanie Hicken @melhicken]

In a rare move, the US Coast Guard released a highly critical report today saying it had “failed to keep our people safe,” while vowing to make reforms that would better protect them.
https://t.co/k9tkgPITgM

[Kaniela Ing @KanielaIng]

To reporters covering the #MauiFire: Please stop characterizing Front Street and Lahaina Town as a “tourist spot”

It was the original Capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

King Kamehameha’s palace is here.

Kānaka Maoli still live here, on their ancestral land from the 1800s.

[CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish @CNNThisMorning]

Senators are demanding answers after a CNN report exposed a damning report on sexual assault at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

@PamelaBrownCNN reports:

[CNN @CNN]

A secret investigation into alleged sexual abuse at the US Coast Guard Academy, the training ground for the agency's top officers, uncovered a dark history of rapes, assaults and other serious misconduct being ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials. 🧵