Today I am VERY happy to welcome author (and friend) Corrie Jackson, talking about four female journalists who rock her world. Details on the book follow – but pick this one up if you can because it’s all the brilliant.
4 female journalists who rock my world
One of the things I value most about my journalist protagonist, Sophie Kent, is her courage. Not just the everyday courage it requires to survive the cutthroat world of 24/7 news. I mean the courage to fight the fight, to make herself heard, to go where others won’t in the pursuit of truth. Sure, Sophie’s a fictional character. But look around you. Every day, female reporters are risking everything to expose injustice. It takes guts. Think Martha Gelhorn, Kate Adie and Marie Colvin. These women are pioneers, revolutionaries, superheroes. And it’s thanks to them that I was inspired to create a kick-ass journalist of my own. Here are a few of the bold women whose written words have changed the world…
Veronica Guerin
For Guerin, death threats went with the territory. Her role as crime reporter for Ireland’s Sunday Independent saw her grapple with Dublin’s criminal underworld. But Guerin refused to back down, even when a gang member shot her in the leg. Her talent for building relationships with both the police and the drug gangs gave her unparalleled access. But she paid the ultimate price. In 1996, two motorcyclists shot the reporter at point blank range as she sat at traffic lights in her car. Guerin’s husband later said ‘she stood as freedom…she stood as light.’ And her death marked a turning point in Ireland’s battle against organized crime.
Nellie Bly
Fed up with writing for ‘women’s pages’ at her local Pittsburgh newspaper, Bly moved to New York in 1887 and landed a job at Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, the New York World. After hearing reports of brutality at the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell Island, Bly went undercover by faking insanity to get admitted. Ten torturous days later, Bly’s exposé blew the lid on the rat-infested hellhole, where women were systematically abused, and dangerous patients tied together with ropes. Her story forced the government to reform the system – and she pioneered a new kind of investigative journalism in the process. Trail. Blazer.
Alex Crawford
The Sky news correspondent, who was awarded an OBE in 2012, has reported from all over the world. But the Libyan Civil War made Crawford a household name, after her live-reporting from the Battle of Tivoli went viral. She’s also a mother of four and has spoken out about the endless sexism she’s encountered. In a 2011 interview Crawford gave via satellite link from Libya, she remarked that she’d spent the day working with a male colleague, “and there will be no-one who says ‘what do you think you’re doing, how awful, what are you doing to your children?”’ Quite.
Edna Buchanan
Dubbed the ‘one-woman newsroom’, Buchanan ruled Miami’s crime beat for two decades. She covered over three thousand murders and won a Pulitzer prize in 1986, blazing a trail right through the ruthless, Alpha-male crime industry (in towering heels most of the time). She has gone on to write several novels (check out her memoir, The Corpse Had A Familiar Face; I devoured it in one sitting) but journalism is her passion. In her words: ‘There is something noble and exciting about venturing out every day to seek the truth.’ Amen to that!
About the book:
Charlie and Emily Swift are the Instagram-perfect couple: gorgeous, successful and in love. But then Charlie is named as the prime suspect in a gruesome murder and Emily’s world falls apart.
Desperate for answers, she turns to Charlie’s troubled best friend, London Herald journalist, Sophie Kent. Sophie knows police have the wrong man – she trusts Charlie with her life.
Then Charlie flees.
Sophie puts her reputation on the line to clear his name. But as she’s drawn deeper into Charlie and Emily’s unravelling marriage, she realises that there is nothing perfect about the Swifts.
As she begins to question Charlie’s innocence, something happens that blows the investigation – and their friendship – apart.
Now Sophie isn’t just fighting for justice, she’s fighting for her life.
Follow the Tour!
Happy Reading!
