is true crime content ethical ?

We have seen an increasing rise of true crime content, which thousands of people engage in whether that’s documentaries, Podcasts, or youtube videos from content creators such as ‘Eleanor Neale’. As much as these “cautionary tales” are informative there is a constant discussion on whether they’re ethical. Is it ethical to monetise off the backs of other people’s trauma ?

True crime currently has a big place within pop culture right now with Netflix utilising the streaming platform to enable and distribute series such as ‘Making a Murderer’ and ‘Dahmer- Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer story’. A plethora of documentaries concerning brutal heinous crimes can all be found on Netflix also. The issue isn’t the content , it’s the fact that many individuals have jumped onto the bandwagon of true crime as a way of ensuring a grand return in the form of monetisation. As well as Netflix you also have numerous content creators on youtube with content only surrounding true crime.

It is one thing to simply want to create awareness around a case, and another to sit in front of a camera with a ring light ensuring you look good discussing a horrific case, but not before you get your paid sponsorship in beforehand…. this formula of ensuring you get your 15 seconds of promo before discussing sensitive issues translates as insensitive together with disingenuous .

Content creators addressing true crime stories are mostly women and this aligns with the statistic that the podcast audience is predominantly female (73%). Women are much more inclined to enage in true crime content as cautionary tales, women feel unsafe in the world and feel as if they’re never safe whether that be from potential partners, friends, coworkers or random people in the street. So as a woman I can empathise and completely understand why they’re engaging with this content.

I consistently see knowledge gained from true crime being shared online, to aid the few women who may be naive to how harsh the world can truly be. True crime has also helped to reopen many cold cases due to more awareness which is great ! So I say that the affect true crime has had on keeping women safe has been positive as well as affective, but this doesn’t mean to say it hasn’t also been negative in regards to amplifying womens paranoia.

True crime has also had a negative effect on the desensitisation of how people react to horryfying news as well as how they engage with active true crime cases. With the Nicola Bulley case that occured in Lancashire UK , we saw how “online sleuths” interfered with the case heavily, by spreading alleged assumptions of the case , as well as theories that were simply just creating confusion in the midst of the desperate search for a mother who had gone missing whilst dog walking.

Online sleuths had come together on apps like Tiktok to deconstruct interviews of her partner, who they claimed to be exhibiting signs of being “guilty”. They were incredibly insensitive but more concerningly seemed so sure they had the skills as well as the knowledge from true crime documentaries to be able to solve an active case. This isn’t to say cases haven’t been solved by avid online sleuths, I say this to say the magnitude of insenstitive “online sleuths” has increased because of the imprinting factor of true crime being so prominent in pop culture.

The issue with content creators on youtube and Netflix is that there is a sense of glorifying perpetrators or giving these perpretators a redemption arc. Excessive emotive language is usually used when discussing perpetrators, which is incredibly distasteful as it allows room for viewers to create an idea of the perpretrator, henceforth diminishing the barbaric crimes they did. We also saw with the Jeffery Dahmer series there was a sense of amplifying Jeffery altogether with altering details in order to fit this narrative of what “Jeffery was like” . Creating dialogue for a vicious, cruel character that is portrayed as timid, confused, unwell and misuderstood is incredibly irresponsible. I feel that there was a lot of dialogue for Jeffery within this series to be interpreted as “oh bless him he is just misunderstood” when actually if it had not been for him being caught in the circumstances he was, he would’ve gladly continued destroying lives within the LGBTQ+ community. Understandably as a tv series things need to be altered in order to be entertaining, it just seems that anybody with a shred of sense or integrity would understand giving more attention to a serial killer in the form of a series is foul. I just feel as though that’s the issue, true crime isn’t supposed to be entertaining, we’re not supposed to be empathising with murderers.

Within the Jeffery Dahmer series there were many issues with the show such as inaccuracy surrounding the details around his relationship with his neighbour . They repeatedly were inaccurate in the recounters of true crime which is a worrying factor both outlets share. How can unqualified content creators feel as if they’re equipped enough to research a case without having access to real case studies or reports ?

Using Google & Wikipedia as your only sources of information is incredibly problematic and unethical. On one occasion a close relative to a victim of a true crime case, had expressed unhappiness underneath a video of Eleanor Neale because the facts she was sharing were false as well as the facts around the victim. This creates a strong sense of uncertainty around true crime content on youtube.

Before speaking about these victims disclaimers are usually given but this is quickly forgotten the moment a creator comes onto screen with a plate engulfed in food that they will devour whilst discussing sensitive topics regarding real victims… or reaching for a makeup brush as you share a tragic story.. it’s all incredibly insensitive and brings the question of is this ethical ?

Mukbangs and makeup content are also incredibly successful on youtube which indicates there is a calculated decision behind merging true crime with makeup or a mukbang. It’s very much evident that the choices surrounding the idea to merge the two are to simply ensure they gain traction to the videos. This shows they’re not retelling these stories because they care but more so because they want to have access to the big cash grab that is makeup, food & true crime. If the intentions around sharing true crime stories were genuine they’d simply give these videos their full undivided attention, which they are not and I fail to see how that isn’t incredibly foul and distasteful.