There are thousands of articles about the uneasy relationship between true crime creators and the families of victims.
The conclusions all vary, usually depending on the standpoint of the author, but I don’t think we can escape the fact that when we create true crime content there is always an element of entertainment. Let’s be clear, if it isn’t interesting for an audience, they won’t consume the content.
And here is the problem: if the content is murder, this means the true crime creator is making entertainment based on the worst possible day in the lives of friends and family of this person.
Once we accept this, the content which is produced varies on how much the creator cares and respects victims and their families. This applies to written articles, tv, podcasts and all other formats.
We have all seen salacious headlines, cringed at some of the information shared in some content and felt angry at the lack of respect shown to victims. But what can we do about it?
I suggest that here is only one answer. If the content producer doesn’t always show respect and put the victim and their friends and family at the very centre of the story, we shouldn’t read, listen to or watch that piece of content or anything else from that source.
If we all did this from today, this lack of respect would eventually stop. About time too.