"Freedom means, this is who I am..."

A reporter delved into her memories, just to confront again the image of her being rapped. From this look into herself, an amazing story hatched out. This is what journalism is all about.

Nieman Narrative Digest
Beyond RapeFacing her rape, a survivor uncovers a universe of grief and violence

Newspapers struggle with representing incendiary topics in a way that explains without exploiting. Last month, The Plain Dealer’s Joanna Connors addressed sexual assault, poverty, and race in a single project. “Beyond Rape,” a 16-page supplement to the Cleveland newspaper, recounts Connors’ rape decades ago then traces her efforts to find her rapist, his family, and his other victims.

“Beyond Rape” delivers on its title literally via Connors’ first person narration of breaking the hold the rape had on her life. But the project goes beyond the assault in other senses, too, by placing the rape in its social context and using sidebars to give readers safety tips and statistics on sexual assault. Read the story.

It is worth it:http://www.cleveland.com/beyondrape/index.ssf/2008/05/editors_note.html