Witnessing the Grim Realities of the Drug War

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The chapter explores a writer's shift in perspective after witnessing the brutal aftermath of violence during the drug war in the Philippines, leading them to reflect on the accuracy of their previously criticized dramatic language. It details the extrajudicial killings linked to a political leader's anti-drug campaign, showcasing the dehumanizing rhetoric that justified the deaths and the challenges faced by journalists covering the ongoing violence.

Patricia Evangelista is a trauma journalist whose coverage of the drug war in the Philippines has appeared in Rappler, Esquire, and elsewhere. Her recent book is Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in My Country.

“It is hard to describe the beat I do without saying very often it involves people who have died. And it seemed like an unfair way to frame it. It didn't quite seem right. … Sometimes there's no dead body, or sometimes there's 6,000, but the function is the same: that the people you speak to have gone through enormous painful trauma, and then there's a way to cover it that minimizes that trauma. So … I don't cover the dead. I cover trauma.”

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