338: The Spokesman
Aug 10, 2007
Attention listeners. In the Internet version of Act One of this show, we have left one curse word un-bleeped at a critical moment.
Stories of what can happen when you go from being a private person to a public face.
Stories of what can happen when you go from being a private person to a public face.
- Rachel North was on a train that got blown up during the London subway bombings. After writing a very popular blog about her experience and her recovery afterward, Rachel became a spokeswoman for a survivors' group. Then conspiracy theorists—who believed that there were no bombings and that the whole thing was a cover-up by the British government—started attacking her online, saying she was a spy...or a plant by the police...or,worse, that she didn't exist at all. Jon Ronson tells her story.
Jon writes books, hosts radio shows, and produces BBC documentaries—all of which you can check out on his website. A version of this story appeared on his BBC Radio Four series Jon Ronson On.... (21 minutes)
Rachel North has written a book about her experience, called Out of the Tunnel.
Photo
Anthony Pico from Act Two with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom.


