Surviving and diving into the world of cults as an outsider
How do you write about people suffering from severe trauma without making it worse? What are the boundaries between journalist and subject? Naomi Arnold writes about five years of watching journalist, cult reporter and friend Anke Richter suffer the weight of those questions while writing her new book Cult Trip.
I first met Anke Richter at a journalist conference in 2017. She was giving a talk called “Coming Too Close” about the shitstorm she encountered when she started reporting for a book on Centrepoint, the former Auckland commune that was a hotbed of psychological manipulation, neglect and sexual abuse.
Further reading: https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/130294169/surviving-and-diving-into-the-world-of-cults-as-an-outsider