TIFA’s most provocative conversation series returns, exploring thrilling new themes for MOTIVE audiences. Each day of the Festival, authors and experts examine the culture and politics that shape the world around us and the books we read.

With 24-hour news, the need to uncover truth fast and first can lead to dangerous outcomes, invasion of privacy, misrepresentation, trauma and injury. This critical conversation will delve into the complexities, issues and realities of reporting crime, specifically as it pertains to representing criminals and those affected by crime and the media’s role in reporting on crime on a wide scale.

Join top legal scholar Kent Roach and award-winning journalist Tamara Cherry for an enlightening conversation. Cherry’s book Trauma Beat is a groundbreaking combination of investigative journalism and memoir, and a thorough examination of the trauma caused by the media’s coverage of crimes. Cherry will speak to her own documentation of those who were forced to suffer on the public stage, exposing a system set up to fail trauma survivors and journalists alike. Roach will speak about the themes in his own book Wrongfully Convicted, offering his expertise on Canada’s national tragedy of wrongful convictions and how anyone could be caught up in them. Roach’s work reveals how the burden of wrongful convictions falls disproportionately on the disadvantaged, including Indigenous and racialized people, those with cognitive issues, single mothers and the poor.

During the event, Adrian Hayles will be documenting the conversation with a set of loose, court-room style portraits of speakers.

Moderator: Helen Walsh

Event Info:
Date & Time: June 2 at 7pm ET
Where: Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre
Duration: 75 minutes
Available with a MOTIVE Day or Weekend Pass

Please note, there was a change of venue for this event. It will now take place in the Brigantine Room at Harbourfront Centre.

This event is presented in partnership with Provocations Festival.