Entertainment, Journalism, and Advocacy

In this book, Lindsey A. Sherrill explores the exponential growth of true crime podcasting, including the role of the ubiquitous Serial podcast in the growth of the industry. Using both demographic population analysis and interviews with podcast hosts and producers, Sherill demonstrates that true crime podcasts exist as hybrid organizations, with diverse goals ranging from entertainment to criminal justice reform advocacy to journalistic inquiry. These competing motivations of podcast producers are explored, along with the ethical quandaries that emerge in the process of telling true crime stories. Sherrill traces true crime podcasting back to the infancy of the medium and examines the influences, innovations, and events that created the true crime podcast ecosystem, as well as its influence on real cases in the United States. Scholars of communication, sociology, and media studies will find this book of particular interest.

Sherrill presents her research into "goal oriented" true- crime podcasts as organization models. She employs two lenses: organizational ecology and social movement theory. Sherrill collected data by interviewing a dozen authors and hosts of true-crime podcasts, including Rabia Chaudry of Undisclosed and Steven Pacheco of Trace Evidence?. This book is best suited for researchers looking at motivation, evolutionary patterns, or legitimizing strategies within podcasts. Though it is not necessarily geared toward students of the genre, this volume may nevertheless inform those thinking about entering the true-crime podcasting universe themselves. Recommended. Graduate students and faculty.