In Search of Truth – From Journalism via Academia to Crime Fiction By Jake Lynch

I was a newsreader for BBC World at the time of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Night after night, my studio would echo to assurances from highly-placed, authoritative sources that Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” threatened our safety and security. The case for military action brooked no delay – least of all for UN weapons inspectors, by then crossing off the list of supposed WMD sites one by one, to complete their assignment.

We were supposed to deliver the two public goods of broadcast news: accuracy and due impartiality. The latter is, in turn, is assured by hearing both sides. “On the one hand… on the other hand… in the end, only time will tell.” Well, it did – and it was not flattering, to either of those “two sides” or indeed to news itself.

My subsequent path took me through Peace Journalism, a critical perspective on conflict reporting that reminds audiences of key contexts and backgrounds; reaches out for peace perspectives beyond the charmed circle of elite sources, and keeps a sceptical eye on overblown propaganda claims.

A way of making news a truer reflection of events and processes, it’s been the organising principle for “real-world” initiatives, such as journalist training in conflict zones, by way of media development aid; and its own small but growing branch in the scholarly study of journalism.

Hence I forsook my own television career for one in universities, becoming a “hackademic.” Amassing data through painstaking fieldwork should surely proof the outputs against such distortions – delivering the real, not the false or fake? Up to a point. Even specialist scholars can be deceived – and, more pertinently, their outputs often only reach others already in the know.

Then, academic research can be a frustrating field for writers. One funded project took me to several countries in search of audience responses to differently produced versions of television news. In the book that followed, I introduced each branch of the study – in the fascinating lands of Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines – with a mini-travelogue. To absolutely no impact whatsoever. A later journal article was praised by a reviewer for avoiding the “Sahara-like dryness” that besets the form, but such plaudits are few and far between. Generally, no-one seems to notice.

So to fiction, and my new novel, Mind Over Murder, just published by Next Chapter and co-authored with my partner (in life and work), Annabel McGoldrick. A more creative milieu? Of course, by definition. Old journalist’s mantra: “never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” If you can make up your own, the barriers melt away.

Perhaps that helps to explain the lengthy string of newshounds who’ve picked up the same trail. The famous orotundity of a Charles Dickens novel reflects the political reporting conventions of his day – honed on assignments for the Morning Chronicle. Later, the invention of the telegraph transformed journalism to the familiar short sentences and news-in-the-nose method of today (to ensure the gist of a story was conveyed before the signal failed, as it might any moment in those early days). Hence Michael Connelly’s signature quickfire style, honed on the Los Angeles Times. Back over this side of the Atlantic, there’s still more than a trace of the Daily Record in the brisk pacing and concise atmospherics of detective novels by Val McDermid.

What about the truth? Annabel, too, left journalism – in her case to practise as a psychotherapist. Like our protagonist, Janna Rose, she specialises in EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It’s a treatment for unprocessed trauma and a kind of detective work in its own right: figuring out what really causes and motivates clients’ responses and behaviours.

In Mind Over Murder, we juxtapose and interweave strands from vexing contemporary issues, from social media manipulation of political opinion to dysfunctional family dynamics, all playing out on the streets of Oxford. In journalism, they’d be different stories, for different sections of the paper. In academia, different disciplines with different publications.

Only in the novel format can they come together to reveal deeper, larger truths that, between them, equip us to make meanings in response to an apparently opaque and baffling sequence. Is that sequence real? No. Does it matter? That would be for readers, of course, to decide.

 

Mind Over Murder by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick (Next Chapter) Out Now

When journalist-turned-therapist Janna Rose is called to identify the body of her old flame Daniel, she has a feeling that something doesn't add up. Daniel's death came right after he led an eco-protest against a controversial development. As police drag their feet, Janna investigates the killing herself. Following a trail of cryptic clues from her last conversation with Daniel, she begins to uncover a conspiracy, which reaches all the way into her consulting room. Digging deeper, Janna realizes that she and her dear ones are in peril. With lives at stake, she must risk everything to outwit her ruthless adversary and expose the truth.

Mind Over Murder is available here.

More information abut the authors can be found on their website. They can also be found on Facebook and you can follow the on X @ProfJakeLynch.