Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative

What really happens when stories about people’s lives are collected, edited, and consumed?

Shocking, Heartbreaking,Transformative is a five-part non-fiction series about the nuts and bolts of documentary storytelling, the power dynamics between makers and subjects, and rewriting unwritten rules of the documentary and non-fiction content industry.

Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is created, written, and produced by me for Radiotopia Presents. Sara Nics is the story editor. Sound design, mix/mastering by Michelle Macklem. Music by Eliza Niemi. This reporting was supported in part by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G.Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.

Recipient of a Listeners Choice Award and Bronze for Most Innovative Audio Experience in the Limited Run Series category at the 2024 Signal Awards.

For insight into some of the thinking behind the series, check out this essay I wrote for Sound Fields.

Some press:

“This is a timely and important critique of the non-fiction podcast industrial complex. Jess examines the power dynamics in the making non-fiction audio, specifically who benefits and who bears the costs of exposure.” - Anna Sale from Death Sex and Money

“Not all goes to plan in Shane’s brave new audio world, and it’s the misunderstandings and disappointments of this new dynamic that make her series worth hearing.” - Financial Times

“It manages to find an entry point into examine documentary ethics […] and watch the door close behind you, because you're in the story too.” - Bingeworthy

“It is a disillusioned, accusatory critique of one of the most popular genres of recent years: narrated audio documentaries of true (life) stories.” - Ubermedien

“The public is hungry for tell-all documentaries, but at what cost?” - The Guardian

“Is anything labeled as “non-fiction” actually accurate? […] Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative [is] a podcast that grapples with the ethics of using people’s lives as content”. - Podcast Review

“[Shane] is the person who comes out looking the worst from this series […] and that is on purpose.” - Defector

“It was both a navel-gazing mess and a fascinating experiment in honesty.” - The Telegraph