True Crime Club: Murder, The Media and "The Barbie & Ken Killers"

Join us for an engaging, lighthearted discussion of this fascinating yet disturbing genre. We focus our discussion on uplifting and empathizing with the victims of these crimes. 

We will be reading Serial Murder and Media Circuses by Dirk C. Gibson as our primary source of information, but feel free to research this topic however you choose! 

"Gibson argues that the American media plays a multidimensional and integral role in serial killings and their investigation―and that this role is not generally positive. Serial murder cases motivate the media in unfortunate ways. The result is that even typically respectable media organizations can be involved in document theft or in interfering with the capture of serial murderers on the run. This link between multiple murderers and mass communication is not accidental or coincidental; the relationship between the press and serial killers is of extraordinary importance to both parties. Gibson examines the role of the media in serial murder cases; the body of knowledge on serial murder as seen through the lens of mass communication; the effectiveness of law enforcement responses to serial murderers, and how they might be improved if the mass communication influence was better understood; the magnitude of the serial murder problem; and the interaction between the media, the killers, and serial murder investigations. Specific examples and numerous quotes illustrate this strange and detrimental relationship between media and serial murderers."

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