‘Citizen Journalist’ calls Pickton trial emotionally disturbing
A former sex trade worker who’s been covering the Pickton case for the last seven months is speaking about her experience as a ‘citizen journalist.’ She’s been filing stories for an online magazine and calls the experience emotionally disturbing.She doesn’t have any journalism training, but Trisha Baptie has been a big player when it comes to reporting on the Pickton case. Since day one, the former sex trade worker has been writing articles for Orato.com, an online magazine.
She says the experience is one she will never forget, but admits it has been incredibly hard emotionally. “I feel like I’ve been in a seven-month long eulogy because I knew some of these women, they are who I would call friends.”
Baptie says the hardest part of the trial was day one, when she sat in court and heard how all six woman had died. She adds she is still closely tied to the Downtown Eastside and visits friends there all the time, and admits she’s thankful she was one of the lucky ones. “It makes me more and more grateful that I made it out, and I’m in the position im in. But I also have this ‘why me, like how come I made it out’.”
