Media and Crime

There has always been a longstanding relationship between the media and crime. The newspapers have a duty to report it and the stories can make for excellent TV and film, however the line between reporting facts and creating a story can often be blurred. The celebrity killer is now a recognized figure within society with D. Schmid describing how “The celebrity culture around serial killers has developed so far that one can now purchase the nail clippings and hair of some killers, as if they were religious icons.” But is the media to blame for glamorizing crime or is crime just automatically exciting and captivating? This literate review aims to analyze and critic research and theories concerning this field. Despite committing hideous crimes there are many killers who become elevated to an “anti hero” status within popular culture. Raoul Moat is the most recent and very modern example of the anti-hero. Lee Barron said “I think there will always be people who support those who set themselves against authority, it is a type of admiration and there is a romance within it.” Moat continuously battled against the police and instead of eventually surrendering to the authorities he instead took his own life, keeping himself in control. The public responded to his rebellion and related to him, his story and, as Barron stated, the “romance” to his story, yet others argued that it was the media saturation that created that romance. Johann Hari argued that the press cared more about “flashier front pages in a slow summer” than saving lives and stated that by presenting a relatable story it could lead to “copycat” killings in a bid for stardom. “Suddenly, they are shown a path where their problems won't be trivial and squalid and pointless. No: they'll be the talk of the entire country. They'll be stars.” Hari’s statement can be related to numerous crimes, the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007 is just one of them. Seung-Hui Cho, the student who killed 32 people and