Transcript
Carter (0:01)
Hey there, it's Carter. If you're a true crime lover like me, you'll love the brand new audiobook from Crime House Studios called Murder in the Media. Told through the lens of five heart pounding murder cases, this thrilling audiobook traces the evolving and sometimes insidious role the media has had in shaping true crime storytelling. From the discovery of America's first serial killer, to a shocking tabloid murder, to a chilling disappearance that captivated the nation, each of these stories will change how you think about the relationship between the media and true crime forever. Murder in the Media is a true crime original audiobook. To listen to the whole thing, find it on Spotify, but here's a sample for you to enjoy now.
Vanessa Richardson (0:54)
Murder in the media written by C.C. bowie read for you by Vanessa Richardson Introduction Ever since the popularization of print media, crime and media have gone hand in hand in the United States. It's a natural relationship. A crime happens and the media reports on it. But sometimes that relationship goes beyond a simple retelling of the facts. In this book, we will examine five instances in which the media has taken an outsized role in a criminal investigation and how that impacted the public's reaction to it. At the same time, we'll trace how technological advances have changed media coverage of true crime stories and how we interact with them. From the discovery of the country's first known serial killer in the late 1800s to the disappearance and murder of a young government intern in the early 2000s, the media has been there every step of the way. As newspapers made way for radio and then television as the primary source for news consumption, the public evolved in kind. At first, news was something you reacted to maybe days after it happened. For some people, it was less about staying informed and more about entertainment, and newspaper publishers were happy to oblige. But the advent of radio made things much more immediate. All of a sudden, you could find out about terrifying crimes as they occurred, allowing interested listeners to track an investigation in real time. And when it came to television and the emergence of 24. 7 Cable News, these investigations became less of a curiosity and more of a constant fact of life. Now, in the age of the Internet and smartphone, everyday people have the ability to try their hands at cracking even the most difficult cold cases. With the rise of Internet detectives and Reddit sleuths, true crime has never felt more personal. The following chapters will cover five of the biggest murder investigations in the history of the United States. Each one was significantly impacted by the media's role in covering it. From false leads to unexpected evidence, we'll examine how the relationship between media and true crime has evolved throughout history. The most importantly, we will explain how this dynamic impacts investigations that are unfolding today. Part 1 Benjamin Peitzel and H.H. holmes Part 1 Chapter 1 Introduction in the late 1800s, the US had around 7,000 newspapers in circulation around the country. People relied on their local paper to get important information about everything from job openings to the latest international wars. But there was a new trend making waves around the nation. Yellow journalism. Similar to modern day tabloids, this style of writing used attention grabbing headlines and exaggerated details to drive sales. And in 1894, the perfect yellow journalism subject seemed to materialize out of thin air. When H.H. holmes was arrested for the murder of his best friend, Benjamin Peitzel, Chicago newspapers latched onto his story and didn't let go his they did more than just inform the public about his crimes. They made their own judgments about who H.H. holmes was and what he did. They embellished his victim count and the gruesome details, claiming that Holmes dissected his victims before killing them and had a special torture chamber in his murder mansion. It didn't matter that the details were grossly overblown. The people of Chicago were hooked. They they wanted to know anything and everything about the country's first serial killer, and the media complied. They sensationalized Holmes as a living devil and in the process, created America's first celebrity serial killer. But what's the real story behind this near mythical criminal? Let's go back in time to Gilded Age America and find out. Part 1 Chapter 2 who is HH Holmes? The first thing to know about HH Holmes is that his name was an alias. He was really called Herman Mudgett, which certainly sounds much less imposing. Born in 1861 on a farm in New Hampshire, Herman was a polite, smart kid with lots of promise. He was also a bit of a loner and the frequent target of bullying. Herman brushed off most of the mean jokes, but one of the bully's pranks stuck with him long past childhood. One morning, Herman had to go to the doctor's office for an appointment. According to his later autobiography, older kids were constantly telling him stories about horrifying monsters hiding behind the doctor's closed doors. To prove their point, two of those boys apparently forced Herman face to face with a human skeleton. They put the skeleton's hands on his face, trying to frighten him. It worked at first, but then something shifted for Herman. He became intrigued by the bones, not scared of them. If there was a moment that sent Herman down his eventual path. It might have been this one. It seemed like Herman no longer feared death. He was now fascinated by it. Over the next few years, Herman's preoccupation with death transformed into a desire to study medicine. But he didn't have the funds to pay for it himself. Herman knew that if he wanted to go to medical school, he'd need to find a way to foot the bill. And after graduating high school in 1877 at 16 years old, he found a way to turn that dream into a reality. When he was about a year out of high school, Herman married a young woman named Clara Lovering. Clara came from a privileged family, and she had the means to pay for Herman's tuition.