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Hosted by award-winning journalist, trauma researcher and author Tamara Cherry, The Trauma Beat podcast features conversations with trauma survivors, survivor support workers, investigators and journalists. From homicides to traffic fatalities and sexual violence to mass violence, The Trauma Beat explores how the news media covers traumatic events, the impact this coverage has on survivors and journalists, and how we all might be able to tell (and consume) these very important stories, better. Based on Tamara’s book, The Trauma Beat: A Case for Re-Thinking the Business of Bad News.
Episodes
Monday Nov 20, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #11 - Brett Holzhauer
Monday Nov 20, 2023
Monday Nov 20, 2023
Brett Holzhauer was in the library of Santa Monica College, a journalism student studying for his last exam, when he heard the first bang. For the self-proclaimed gun advocate, that bang and the many bangs that followed were unmistakable: gunfire.
His first encounter with the media came just moments after he had a gun pointed in his face, just moments after he crawled and ran to safety, and just moments after seeing the shooter dead outside the building.
He wasn’t ready to do an interview yet, but being a journalism student, he felt it was his duty.
“I gave one interview. One turned to two, to five, to seven, to 10, and I forget the exact count, but I think in a two-hour span, I probably did 35 interviews,” he recalls in conversation with host Tamara Cherry, exactly nine years after that day. “I think that there is this mass land grab of, ‘Who was there, who can we talk to, who can we get a hot quote from’ and then everyone just kind of throws up their hands like, ‘Okay, thanks for the help. See you later.’ And there’s never a follow-up.”
Speaking two weeks after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Brett discusses the impact that media coverage of other incidents of mass violence has had on him. He also questions whether it is the responsibility of a journalist to follow up with trauma survivors after highly emotional interviews, and the consequences of not doing so.
Brett and Tamara consider what support should look like for survivors in the immediate aftermath of traumatic and high-profile events. “There’s got to be a more ethically sound way to do these things that is centered around the community or the city that is more organized, rather than just this manic free-for-all,” Brett says. He refers to the media coverage of the Uvalde shooting and how one network anchor comforted a grieving father on live television.
Referring to the Parkland high school and Sandy Hook elementary school shootings, Brett also speaks about the harm he has felt from media coverage that seems to focus so quickly on the debate over the Second Amendment.
As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.
This conversation was recorded in June 2022.
For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email contact@pickupcommunications.com.
Monday Nov 13, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #10 - Elynne Greene
Monday Nov 13, 2023
Monday Nov 13, 2023
For more than three decades, Elynne Greene answered the call to help those who were confronted by the unimaginable. From homicides and traffic fatalities, to sexual violence and human trafficking, to the “One October” mass shooting on the Las Vegas strip, the recently retired manager of Victim Services for Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has supported countless trauma survivors through their darkest days.
And through it all, Elynne’s job has included at least some involvement with the media — a rare quality for victim services personnel. She has seen how the media can harm, and how the media can help. In conversation with Tamara Cherry, she provides invaluable advice for journalists, victim service providers and investigators, including how they can work together to support survivors, and each other.
Elynne and her team supported victims and survivors in the hours, weeks, months, and years that followed One October, as it came to be known, when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of outdoor concert goers. She recalls those chaotic first hours of supporting survivors who didn’t know whether their loved ones were among the dead, and how, as the story stretched on, the media favored certain survivors over others.
Elynne discusses the methodologies (reaching out to survivors, showing up at their home), language (for example, words used to describe sexually exploited children), and elements journalists often use to tell their stories (for example, images of body bags and car wrecks, sounds of gunshots, and identifiable crime scene photos), and how these common practices in the newsgathering and storytelling process can negatively impact survivors. She also speaks to the importance of not perpetuating myths about crimes like human trafficking.
Elynne also unpacks the importance of supporting survivors throughout the media process, from providing them with the information they need to make an informed choice to engage (or not) with the media, to preparing them for an interview, and advocating for them if things go sideways.
As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.
This conversation was recorded in March 2022. Elynne retired from her post at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in 2023.
For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email contact@pickupcommunications.com.
Monday Nov 06, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #9 - Cijay Morgan
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Agnes Morgan was a devoted parishioner who headed up not one, but several committees at her church. She was also a mother with gentle lessons. Her resting face was a smile. There were so many delightful things about her.
But when she was struck and killed by a drunk driver in 2013, she became, quite simply, “senior citizen.”
“My mom didn’t die because she was a 77-year-old lady crossing the street,” Agnes’s daughter, Cijay Morgan, says in conversation with host Tamara Cherry. “My mom died because somebody chose to drink for 14 hours and then get behind the wheel of a car instead of staying where he was.”
From questions asked of survivors to words and photos used in stories, Cijay discusses the basic building blocks of a journalist’s story that can be of the utmost significance to a victim’s family. Cijay speaks about the impact of media coverage of other impaired driving cases. “The world just starts spinning,” she says.
Cijay also shares advice for other survivors faced with media coverage, including the importance of appointing someone to field calls from journalists. “This is your time. And if closing all the curtains and doors and going into your basement is how you’re going to handle it, then do that. You don’t owe any interviews, appearances.”
As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.
This conversation was recorded in March 2022.
For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email contact@pickupcommunications.com.
Monday Oct 30, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #8 - Louise Godbold
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Louise (Lou) Godbold is many things.
She is a silence breaker, a trauma expert, and a non-profit leader. But the title most often associated with Lou in her conversations with the media — and there have been many — is “Weinstein survivor.”
“I speak a lot with survivors of sexual violence, and I speak a lot with those who have that next layer of trauma…where they're exposed to a lot of media interest, not because of who they are, but because of who their abuser is,” Lou says in conversation with host Tamara Cherry. “And that's a very unique situation to live through.”
Lou recalls a three-hour interview she granted for a documentary, during which she disclosed childhood sexual abuse that she had not yet disclosed to her mother. She describes the harmful events that followed, when she (wrongly, as it turned out) assumed that this portion of her interview would make it into the documentary.
Lou provides invaluable insight into how journalists can tell the very important stories of trauma survivors, better. She also has advice for survivors who might be faced with media attention. She discusses the problem of survivors feeling like commodities that are “disposed of” following their interviews. She also explains the physiological impact of trauma, including how repeating one’s traumatic story can lead to long-term physical health problems, and the importance of centering a survivor’s experience throughout the facts-gathering and storytelling process.
“Ask the survivor what works for them,” Lou says. “That is what being survivor centered is all about. That is what being trauma informed is all about.”
Resources:
Do No Harm: A Media Code of Conduct for Interviewing Trauma Survivors: https://psmag.com/ideas/a-code-of-conduct-for-how-media-should-interview-survivors-of-sexual-trauma
Echo Training: https://www.echotraining.org/trauma-training/
Infographic: How to Support Someone Who Has Experienced Trauma: https://www.echotraining.org/support-trauma-survivor-infographic/
Infographic: Trauma-Informed Arrow: https://www.echoparenting.org/dev/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Echo_Arrow_Print_8x11.pdf
Survivor Questions for Reporters: https://www.echoparenting.org/dev/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SurvivorQuestions_Poster_CMYK.pdf
Silence and Omissions: A Media Guide for Covering Gender-Based Violence: https://gbvjournalism.org/
This conversation was recorded in March 2022.
As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.
For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email contact@pickupcommunications.com.
Monday Oct 23, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #7 - Arlene Stuckless
Monday Oct 23, 2023
Monday Oct 23, 2023
Toronto homicide victim John Wheeler was technically an uncle to Arlene Stuckless, but given their close birthdays, they were always more like siblings.
In this conversation with host Tamara Cherry, Arlene discusses her experience with the media in the immediate aftermath of John’s inexplicable homicide, from watching the investigator release John’s name on live television, to an interview with someone on scene, and another with someone who was purporting to be closer to John than he actually was.
Arlene discusses the harm that came from conflicting details being reported about the homicide — from the number of shots that were fired, to the part of the body John had been shot in — before her family received official information from investigators. She also discusses the positive experience she had with the media, thanks to the support she received from the lead investigator.
Further, Arlene speaks about the impact of consuming media coverage of other shootings. “It takes you right back to that initial moment when you heard your loved one was murdered,” she says. Arlene discusses the impact of various elements reporters commonly use to illustrate their stories — be it a video of paramedics working on a homicide victim, or a picture of a traffic fatality victim covered with a blanket.
In addition to speaking about what worked (and didn’t) with the media, Arlene speaks more broadly about the experience of becoming a homicide survivor. “I think what would have probably been helpful is if someone who had already been through it could have been there to say, ‘Hey, you know, I’ve been there. I know what you’re going through.’”
As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.
This conversation was recorded in March 2022.
Monday Oct 16, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #6 - Shauna Brown
Monday Oct 16, 2023
Monday Oct 16, 2023
Shauna Brown was the first person on scene after losing her son, Demal, to gun violence outside their home. It was July 23, 2017, and in the days that followed, she and her family members felt like prisoners in their own home, not even able to go outside to have a moment in the spot where Demal died because the media was gathered.
Shauna speaks with host Tamara Cherry about how cognizant she was from the very early days of how the narrative of her son’s homicide could play out in the media. She didn’t want him to be remembered simply as another young Black man murdered in a high-priority neighbourhood. She also didn’t want the focus of stories to be on his past run-ins with the law, or the fact that he was “known to police.” Shauna speaks about the harm that comes from this common narrative.
Shauna also speaks about the importance of notifying Demal’s young daughter of his death before investigators released his name publicly, and shares valuable advice for journalists about their responsibility to take care of survivors not only during interviews, but during and after the storytelling process as well. She shares the story of one interview she granted a journalist, during which she shared personal details and pictures of her son, only to be told the story would not run.
Also discussed is the impact of media coverage of other homicides. “It brings me right back to that place,” she says. “Lack of motivation, lack of energy, just that hopeless feeling physically. There’s also that, just the anxiety, the tension, the lack of sleep…and the list goes on.”
This conversation was recorded in March 2022.
For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email contact@pickupcommunications.com.
Monday Oct 09, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #5 - Jan Canty
Monday Oct 09, 2023
Monday Oct 09, 2023
As a psychologist, author, and host of a podcast called Domino Effect of Murder, it goes without saying that Jan Canty knows a thing or two about trauma. But her expertise in the area of surviving traumatic events is also rooted in her own journey: In the 1980s, her husband, Alan Canty, was murdered.
Jan’s first contact with the media came when her husband was still considered missing, not murdered, when she reached out to a local Detroit radio station in an effort to find him. When Alan’s death was confirmed days later, the media attention exploded to a sensational level.
In this episode, Jan speaks with host Tamara Cherry about the long-lasting impact of that sensational media coverage. “It was more harmful than helpful,” she says.
Jan speaks of the fear the media invoked in her, and the frustration she felt from misinformation being reported. She recalls feeling exploited as she was faced with a television camera just moments after identifying her husband’s mutilated remains.
Jan discusses the impact of trauma on the brain, including how it can impact a survivor’s ability to tell their story. She also describes the impact of perpetrators being described in a “positive” light and how that can pressure otherwise reluctant survivors to speak publicly.
Jan Canty is the author of A Life Divided: A psychologist’s memoir about the double life and murder of her husband – and her road to recovery and What Now?: Navigating the Aftermath of Homicide & Suicide. Her podcast is Domino Effect of Murder. (To find Jan’s books and podcast, check out her website: jancantyphd.com)
As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.
This conversation was recorded in March 2022.
For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email contact@pickupcommunications.com.
Monday Oct 02, 2023
The Trauma Beat - #4 - Vesna Cikovic
Monday Oct 02, 2023
Monday Oct 02, 2023
As a young boy, Boris Cikovic fled war-torn Bosnia with his mother for a safer life in Canada. As a teenager, he was fatally shot while hanging out with friends in a Toronto park. It was October 3, 2008. Boris was an only child.
“It’s not just a story,” Vesna Cikovic tells host Tamara Cherry in this conversation about the impact of the media after the death of her son. “I mean, it’s a big question of how that survivor is going to cope with life after this.”
Vesna speaks about the last hours of Boris’s life, the phone call she received from his friends saying Boris had been shot, and the experience of going to the hospital to identify his body. She recalls the media arriving at her home the following day and calling her at the funeral home, even though she wanted to be left alone. She also recalls one media outlet reiterating harmful comments from an investigator that implied Boris was to blame for his own homicide, and the harm that came from the language that was used to describe his son’s accused killer.
Vesna speaks about the “shell shock” she suffered in the immediate aftermath of Boris’s death, how this state of mind continued for several months, and the gaps in memory she continues to have from that time. She also reflects on the conundrum of journalists needing to speak with survivors in order to tell their story, and the importance of many survivors being left alone.
Vesna speaks about the problem of parents constantly having to defend their murdered children by describing them as “good” kids. She also discusses the positive impacts the media had on her, including the support she received from various journalists who followed the case through the criminal justice system. “At least somebody was listening,” she says.
As per trauma-informed practice, each guest in The Trauma Beat podcast is afforded the opportunity to review and veto a list of anticipated questions before the recorded conversation. Ongoing, informed consent is sought throughout the production process.
This conversation was recorded in March 2022.
For more trauma-informed journalism resources, visit pickupcommunications.com.
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or inquire about sponsorship opportunities, please email contact@pickupcommunications.com.