Exposure

This week we had to go out with a bang, so I asked one of my favourite journalists to talk about how journalism can make its mark on society. 30 years ago, Metro Magazine published Sandra Coney’s story An Unfortunate Experiment. Sandra and her co-author Phillida Bunkle exposed how Professor Herbert Green of National Women’s hospital had been conducting an experiment in secret on women to prove his theory on cervical cancer. He was wrong, and dozens of women died preventable deaths. The feature led to the Cartwright Inquiry, which was a watershed moment for patient rights, and in particular for women. The ripple effects of this story go far and wide, which makes Sandra the perfect person to answer my question: how can journalism change the world?

This week has been busy for #metoonz. Zoe Lawton's #metoo blog with 214 stories of sexual abuse from within the legal profession was handed over to the Law Society... interesting to see what will come of that. And Ali and Stuff with Times Up New Zealand have called for a #BlackFriday - go to work in black to stand against sexual assault at work! In Episode 3, Colin Peacock from Radio New Zealand's Mediawatch programme joined me to talk about "Witch Hunts": why do we get panicky when the media wants to investigate the truth about something? Exposure is written and produced by me, Sapeer Mayron. Our theme music is by Ingrid Saker, and our artwork is photography by Brittany Cosgrove.

In last weeks episode, You Don't Know What You Don't Know, Ruth Money and I discussed all the legal loopholes that exist for the victim, perpetrator and media when it comes to seeking justice for crimes. But afterwards, Ruth gave me her two cents on two areas of the courts which aren't so perfect for survivors. I wanted to share them with you, and I would love your opinions on it all - leave anything you want in the comments or in my messages!

As Ali and her team continue their investigation, I wanted to unpack how journalism and the law meet when it comes to crime, and I found the perfect expert. Ruth Money is a full time, independent victims advocate. That means she stands alongside victims of all sorts of crimes and guides them though our justice system. For episode two, we tried to understand what victims need when they’re seeking justice for crimes done to them, and what the risks are in introducing the media into the mix of police, the crown, lawyers and the dozens of people affected when someone commits a crime. Exposure is written and produced by me, Sapeer Mayron. Our theme music is by Ingrid Saker, and our artwork is photography by Brittany Cosgrove.

Behind every great podcast is an exceptional soundtrack. Ingrid Saker is a Wellington artist and producer and composed/performed/recorded the theme music for Exposure, the podcast. Enjoy the full track!