Originally published in Bound (Volume 2): Emerging Perspectives on Contemporary Australian Publishing, 2020
Edited by Lauren Kelly
Introduction: in which we take on true crime podcasting
Crime—the reporting thereof or the weaving of tales around—has forever captured our collective consumer curiosity. Whether it be to delight in the hero vs. villain trope, to peer into the deepest corners of the darkest minds, or to steel ourselves against the threats of the world, crime pays. The crime genre comes in every medium imaginable. Our media is saturated with crime and us patrons cannot get enough. But, at what cost?
Since the birth of podcasting in 2004, the expeditious embracing of it as a new medium, subsequent transition into the mainstream and continued growth in reputation, it has served us with crime stories borne from every facet of human existence. Podcasting and podcasts are highly relevant to everyday life and are projected to grow even more so. Given that podcasting is a relatively new—but burgeoningly popular media contrivance—this report will reference research pertaining to its entire lifespan, with particular focus from 2015 onwards.
The following report will explore the true crime genre by assessing four popular true crime podcasts. Using additional information that cocoons the broader medium, this report will then examine how true crime’s popularity has driven the creation of podcasts, podcasters and podcast-listeners alike. It will also address what effect the hosts of these podcasts have on both their audiences and the wider genre. Finally, it will analyse the possible side effects of imbibing true crime.
Methodology: in which we learn what crime buffs do and think
The four true crime podcasts chosen as source material are Serial, My Favourite Murder (MFM), S Town and Sword and Scale (S&S). As the author was already a patron of these, the connective tissue was easy to identify. Current figures were collected on podcasting from a variety of databases, including iTunes, Edison Research’s The Infinite Dial and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. In addition to this, information was gathered on podcasting as a medium—its past, present and journalistic authorship.
To establish the role true crime as a genre plays in the listenership of podcasts—with a special focus on women’s engagement—the history of engagement with genre material is considered and meta-analysis of journal articles was compiled concerning true crime podcasts. To supplement this research, a number of true-crime-podcast-listening peers were interviewed about their preferences.
The body: in which we reveal our true bloody colours
As the author swung her axe through thick forests of stories and statistics about bodies and burials, there was one thing that kept her sane—a bloody river of true crime podcasts ear-budding into her auditory system. Podcasting is new, and listening is old (Llinares, Fox & Berry 2018). Sharing scary stories around a campfire is less often an option in 2020 thanks to our devices taking up much of our time (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018). Instead we turn to true crime podcasts.
Podcasts of all genres are more interactive than they seem, they’re more than just a basic smartphone scroll. Of the ‘850,000 “active” podcasts in over 100 languages’ (Minter Dial 2020) available to Western audiences, each has three important elements—demassification, interactivity and asynchroneity. Williams, Rice and Rogers (cited in Boling & Hull 2018, p. 105) explain that in combination, these are the factors which allow users to choose whichever podcast they want and ‘ignore the rest’, to make this choice whenever the users want and in whatever order they choose. There is no greater body dictating any of this, it is totally open as to what ‘people do with the media’ (Katz cited in Boling & Hull 2018, p. 93).
This interactive independence is part of what makes podcasts listeners’ choices important to publishers and producers. As of 20 May 2020—in both the United States’ and Australia’s top podcast charts (iTunes 2020)—three of the top ten podcasts are in the true crime genre. True crime itself and the podcasts about it are a not-so-secret fascination of the world, and especially of women (Cunningham 2018; Munro 2018). According to an ABC annual podcast survey, almost half of those who listened to podcasts listened to true crime—and these numbers are only climbing (Munro 2018).
Podcasting is important to the publishing industry in this way—much of its content Boling and Hall (2018) tell us, is as driven by consumers as it is by producers. Because of its ever-growing popularity—which according to The Infinite Dial grew 22% in Australia this past year (Edison Research 2020)—podcasting is not only the next big thing, but might also be ‘the new journalism’ (Hodo 2019). Boling and Hull and Sacks et al. (2017) highlight that due to their infancy, podcasts are ‘an under-researched media’ (Boling & Hull 2018, p. 94) and that a particular focus on genre-specific and gender-specific study is missing. This report hopes to add some guts into the body of research, as hacked-up as it may currently be. In order not to gag on the garrotte of the hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there, the author has decided to explore the positives and negatives of this upturn in our collective drinking of the true crime Kool-Aid via four true crime podcasts as the basis for her examination: Serial, My Favourite Murder, S Town and Sword and Scale. Using both qualitative and quantitative research the author will analyse the good, the bad and the ugly of true crime, and what effect listening to true crime podcasts is having on its listeners: is there any good in gunning for the gore?
Findings and discussion: in which we uncover true crime’s skeletons and dance with them!
Beginning at the head can be a mistake. One that the killers in true crime stories contend with and in researching this report, so too did the author. Given the limited timeline of podcasting as a medium and the imperfect research into genres and listeners (Boling & Hull 2018), any attempt to put meat on the bones of true crime rather than getting lost in the loose skin of statistics is a challenge. During this guts-y task—based on the four aforementioned true crime podcasts—a small amount of criticism was dug up but the ground was, frankly, fertile with felicitous effects, feminism and female listeners.
The findings and discussion thereof will be divided into three separate areas: ‘“True” crime or “infotainment”?’ where the author compares and contrasts how true crime is viewed and used, ‘“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” – Margaret Atwood’ where the author queries why women are the main audience of true crime podcasts, and ‘Hosts with the most—and the least’ where the author looks into effects hosts can have on a podcast and its audience.
‘True’ crime or ‘infotainment’?
Well, both. Although true crime as a genre has typically been measured for its ‘infotainment’ (Surette & Otto 2002 p. 443)—infotainment being part of the measures of an mediums ability to inform and have an effect on the real world—it has also given rise to other surprising results. These begin with a huge amount of education about the justice system and extend to support of innocence projects, donations and mass support at court dates (Boling 2019, p. 173), increased investigation participation and offers of research assistance (Boling 2019, p. 174).
True crime—in all formats—invites audiences to care and connect more with the world (Boling 2019), it is an opportunity for names and stories to be learned (Greer 2017) and injustices to be righted (Boling & Hull 2018, p. 93). Through the creation of good true crime podcasts and the careful, deliberate and cognisant language they use, there is an opportunity for audiences to register reality, as Gregoriou (2011, p. 96) explains: ‘graphic descriptions of the murder scenes accompany a range of normalising and abnormalizing [sic] metaphors. Our real killers are like us, yet deviantly [sic] unlike us.’ Critics are concerned with the potential for inaccuracy in terms of true crime’s reflections of real world crime statistics—this is of concern in all crime media! It is true that true crime is sometimes inaccurate (Boling & Hull 2018; Boling 2019; Durham, Elrod & Kinkade 1995) and also misrepresentative of ‘the demographics of violent crime, ignoring the “intersection of race and poverty in its formulation of the dominant murder narrative…”’ (Murley cited in Sacks et al. 2017, p. 7).
Sacks et al. (2017) and Durham, Elrod and Kinkade (1995, p. 8–9) identify that true crime relies on ‘stereotypes and narrative tropes’ with a ‘tradition’ in their focus on ‘young, white, middle to upper-middle class, cisnormative’ people. These stories are shamefully over-represented in the news media and journalism too—an example of ‘journalism’s problematic heart’ says Alcorn (2017). In addition to this, language matters. The casting of murderers as anything ‘other’ (Sacks et al. 2017) does a disservice to victims, families, perpetrators, law enforcement and beyond. Boling & Hull (2019, p. 92–4) and Gregoriou illuminate the dangers of ‘othering’ language that casts the murderer as a ‘monster’, ‘mentally disturbed’, a ‘vampire’ or a ‘spoilt child’ (2011, p.73). Gregoriou also emphasises there is much danger in removing agency from killers—it means these people can ‘fail to take responsibility … because they can’ (2011, p.73), because we let them.
However, while true crime podcasting is not yet concerned enough with ‘the every-day violence of real disadvantaged and underserved communities’ (Sacks et al. 2017, p. 7) it’s making a positive start. Especially where—as in MFM, Serial, and S Town—stories are being represented with emphasis on ‘victims’ backstories’, and are used as a vehicle to ‘criticise misogyny and sexism’ (Greer 2017, p. 154). Thankfully ‘podcast consumers also tend to be highly educated’ (Boling & Hull 2018, p. 94) which hopefully necessitates audiences to be a critical thinking bunch. There is room to grow because—as Alcorn (2017) establishes—journalism has purpose beyond entertainment and beyond the whims of voyeurs. True crime serves many purposes—from education to empowerment—and in order to escape lazy and biased reporting and take advantage of the ‘podcast resurgence on non-fictional audio storytelling formats’ (McHugh 2016, p. 65) more work needs to be done with ‘objectivity and advocacy’ (Boling 2019, p. 165).
‘Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.’ – Margaret Atwood
Our society—including its media and the criticism thereof—is inherently patriarchal. Theories like ‘cultivation theory’ and ‘the fear of crime paradox’ are allowed to fester. These theories—now discredited—imply that women’s fear of violent crime is explained by exposure and accumulation (Sacks et al. 2017). In truth, this fear is ‘not from a passive acceptance of media representations of society, but from active, real life experiences’ (Marks 2017). Marks goes on to explain that women are in fact independently seeking out such true crime stories for exposure, for ‘distraction from [their] fears’ (2017) and for empowerment.
The meta-analysis of a series of studies by Vicary and Fraley (cited in Boling & Hull 2018, p. 105) found that women’s identification with female characters and victims—and their sense that they could use information about survival—contributes to why women are the thriving and driving force behind the success of true crime media (Marks 2017; Greer 2017; Boling & Hull 2018). Boling and Hull found that the ‘true crime podcast audience is predominantly female (73%)’ (2018, p. 92) which has been consistently corroborated by other studies (Greer 2017; Munro 2018; Cunningham 2018). Podcast audiences—instead of engaging with hosts, like Mike Boudet of S&S, who make rash comments about mental health (Blackiston 2018) and ‘off-colour jokes’ about women (PR Newswire 2019)—are turning to hosts who are empathetic, connected, empowering, and often female (McHugh 2017, Greer 2017), like Sarah Koenig, Brain Reed, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark.
Through podcasts and safe community spaces—like those created through MFM—hosts Karen and Georgia provide real comfort, albeit an unusual kind. They ‘create a feminine and feminist platform that publici[s]es and justifies women’s consumption of true crime’ (Sacks et al. 2017, p. 2). They expose their audience to murder and mental health with sensitivity (Blackiston 2018), and work to make sure women get practical survival advice (Marks 2017) and ‘don’t get murdered’. Their comedy provides ‘welcome and pleasurable relief or catharsis from the disturbing events narrated’ (Gregoriou 2011, p. 78) and allows ‘the audience to be part of the conversation’ (Boling 2019, p. 175), to deal with—and heal from—very real trauma and fear.
Hosts with the most—and the least
Hosts of true crime podcasts are not just important, but ‘like many literary journalists … become part of the story’ (McHugh 2017). Because narration and storytelling are imbued with the storyteller, the results vary. The author’s peers have collectively turned their back on S&S because of Boudet, and it turns out they weren’t alone. The Tumblr page ‘an open letter to Mike Boudet’ is a record of the S&S host’s hostile, ignorant and offensive interactions with critics and fans of his show alike (Tumblr 2018). Boudet has been widely criticised for his hosting. Not just for his lack of sensitivity to both listeners and subjects, for ‘using … [911] audio gratuitously’ (PR Newswire 2019) and his ‘no-holds-barred approach’, but also for his sexism and predation of women online (Blackiston 2018). Podcasts necessitate ‘a strong relationship between host and listener’—an intimacy (McHugh 2016 p. 65; McHugh 2017). Boudet’s actions make him the perfect example of what is wrong with true crime podcasting.
While criticisms of Serial (Lavoie 2019) and S-Town (Alcorn 2017) centre around the notion of voyeurism and journalistic over-involvement, S&S is marred by its hosts’ failure to have neither journalistic integrity nor humanity. As a direct result of this his show was cancelled and his network cut ties with his show’s parent company (PR Newswire 2019). Luckily, there is a remarkable customer feedback loop for podcasts – people vote with their ears, with their fingers and with their patronage. A good host can breathe life into a podcast. The parasocial interaction represents ‘users’ friendship’ (Hartmann & Goldhoorn cited in Hendricks 2020, p. 41) towards hosts—what’s preferable is up to the individual, however Hendricks tells us that podcasts need to be made ‘immersive’, a kind of ‘discourse’(2020 p. 46, p. 52, p. 214).
Some hosts have a rawness that translates to this intimacy. MFM hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark are perfect examples of this. They inject their show with charisma (Marks 2017) and funny familiarity: they use ‘humour as a feminist tool, a tool for critiquing oppressive societies, and a tool for the re-narrativisation of trauma.’ (Sacks et al. 2017, p. 3). They have begun and nurtured a constantly growing and loving online support network—such is the power of good hosting. Karen and Georgia are friends to their audience, sharing and empathising with their fears (Greer 2017). Brian Reed, the host and creator of S Town is another narrator whose ‘ability to evoke empathy is a cornerstone of audio’ (McHugh 2017). Through her podcast Serial—produced by the same parent company as S Town and This American Life—host Sarah Koenig has developed ‘the art form of choreographed audio storytelling’ and audiences everywhere have benefited.
In the complementary section of the author’s research, the ideas and understandings about true crime hosts from above were reflected by peer responses, who ultimately came to these conclusions;
Hosts are important, they need to be honest, hard workers and critical thinkers—regardless of whether their content is jocular or sombre, and hosts need to be grounded in reality—aware that victims, survivors and perpetrators are people and not statistics or monsters—any lack of sensitivity and awareness of this turns listeners away in droves and worse, perpetuates trauma, ignorance and misunderstanding.
Conclusion: in which we admire our knife work and do a final clean up
Podcasting is in its infancy, it hasn’t yet left its teens. True crime podcasting by extension is cutting its teeth too. Producers, hosts and audiences are teaching and learning simultaneously. There are many issues to slay—language of hosts and the general discussion of crime, murderers, victims and survivors needs to be done with sensitivity and accuracy. Language has great power. The verbal sword must be wielded carefully to avoid othering, and muddying the waters with misinformation. If one of the driving forces behind true crime’s success and intrigue is the exposure, exploration and aide of the justice system, then more cases—not just those concerning the white, wealthy, or unusual—must be publicised. True crime must become more representative of us all.
There are bodies everywhere—audiences of all kinds—but women in particular are adopting the medium with bloody enthusiasm! This is a win for feminism and for women who want to use true crime to harness their fears, re-narrativise their trauma and learn how to survive. This report concludes that the female-driven upsurgeance in true crime podcasts and podcasting is largely a positive thing, so long as the hosts—and audiences—are kind, informed and have shovel-loads of integrity.
True crime podcasts have the potential for greatness. Telling survivors’ and victims’ stories—and naming the people affected—righting some wrongs. Demystifying, supporting and funding the justice system and innocence projects, and to be used as a step towards healing from trauma. The author and her fellow listeners can feel safe in their enjoyment and engagement with true crime—although we may need to put up with being called voyeurs.
References: in which we provide more than just a red herring
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Kitty Literature 