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The Dark Side Of True Crime Reporting

On Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, University of Nebraska-Lincoln research found sensationalized true crime media often harms victims' families and friends, with co-victims citing five concerns after interviews.
Faced with unsolved cases, families often feel pressure to engage with media to keep their loved one's case alive, which can help generate leads and increase pressure on police and prosecutors.
Interviewees described instances where online abuse blamed families for victims' deaths, physical intrusions included helicopters overhead and amateur sleuths peering into windows, and Kelli Boling, assistant professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications, said `Everything was media` with `horrible intrusiveness` persisting long term.
Co-Victims demanded standards or laws to protect them and said producers, journalists and armchair detectives should all meet the same ethical requirements.
Published in academic journals, the studies appeared in Mass Communication and Society and Crime Media Culture, while the National Center for Victims of Crime offers ethics resources for families.

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