Review by Choice Review
As the cliche goes, "If it bleeds, it leads." What about the reporters who get the videos of and quotes about traumatic events? What is the toll on them? How do their personal responses affect their reporting and readers' or viewers' subsequent understanding of events through their reporting? As ever more journalists report from the world's trouble spots and try to provide a context of events in an increasingly interconnected world, journalists are more often not only reporting traumatic events but also becoming victims of violence. In thematic chapters devoted to, among other things, women's rights, civil rights, and war, Underwood (communication, Univ. of Washington) shows how reporters who have themselves been victims of trauma, violence, and abuse have faced their demons in reporting on their subjects. Appendix material provides information about selected British and American literary journalists, the traumas they suffered, and what they reported about. This is a rather macabre scorecard but an invaluable key to understanding this aspect of journalism and writing. Those doing research on trauma and journalism will need to consult this book. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, professionals. J. Marren Buffalo State College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
