A review by reads_eats_explores
The Trauma Beat: A Case for Re-thinking the Business of Bad News by Tamara Cherry

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

The Trauma Beat is a compelling but hard-hitting read from former crime reporter Tamara Cherry. She examines the trauma caused by media coverage of crimes to victims, their families, and the journalists involved by seamlessly blending her experiences with research she has carried out since leaving the field of journalism.

While the book focuses on American cases, it’s also relevant to other countries. I'm sure we can all think of times journalists went too far to get the story or over-sensationalised something for the increased coverage, can't we?

The Trauma Beat isn’t explicitly true crime-centred either; it's a much more expansive look at what and whose trauma is deemed newsworthy and why that is.

Through her experience of talking to survivors, victims of crime, and their families, Cherry shows that for many people, dealing with the media meant re-traumatising themselves. And subsequently, this was traumatising for the front-line journalists. 

But this doesn't mean that the news shouldn't be made available. It's still crucial that reportage happens, but trauma-informed reporting should be the norm, not the exception.

After all, the subjects of news stories are real people. They are only human and might be living their worst day as their name – or the name of a loved one – made the news.

This book should be essential reading for journalism students and, really, anyone who’s currently working as a journalist. 4⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press for the opportunity to read this book in return for an, as always, honest review.