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From books and movies to podcasts and investigative journalism, the true crime genre has maintained its relevancy in consumer media for decades. But recent viral cases like that of Gaby Petito and the Murdaugh family have raised concerns over the ethical complexities of true crime storytelling. This was one of the main focuses of Dr. Stacie Jankowski’s special topics in journalism class at 鶹Ӿ.
The course is an honors class that Dr. Jankowski taught the last two fall semesters but with a rotation of focuses. She says the idea for creating a true crime-based class came from her students’ persistence.
“As we were doing the special topics class last fall, my students kept bringing up true crime,” Dr. Jankowski says. “One of them did a project on the Menendez brothers; another did a project on Gypsy-Rose Blanchard. And I said, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to have to do a true crime class, aren’t we?’”
She says she’s not a true crime expert, but in preparation for the course, Dr. Jankowski consumed more than 100 hours of true crime media, including podcasts and documentaries to study how true crime stories are told.
“We’re not going to talk about how to commit a murder or how to solve a murder,” she says. “The main idea is what about us as an audience do we need to know going forward?”
The 20-person class met twice a week, and the students came from a variety of academic programs and backgrounds. Maria Holmes, a junior studying English and criminal justice, says she’s a long-time fan of true crime and primarily consumes the genre through podcasts, but Dr. Jankowski’s class changed how she chooses her content.
“The class is very much focused on the ethics of true crime and making sure we are consuming it in a respectful way for the people that go through it,” she says. “So, I think it’s changed the way I view the content creators that I watch, and it’s made me more particular about who I watch and just making sure that they’re respectful of everything.”
As an aspiring author, Holmes says the class has also given her a new perspective on how to write about sensitive topics. She is mainly interested in writing thrillers and romance novels, and although it’s not true crime, she’s gained new insights on storytelling and framing that have influenced how she writes in respect to the victims of crime. Holmes says another valuable aspect of the class was getting to experience a broad scope of perspectives from students across different majors and programs.
“There’s many different backgrounds, and I think it definitely affects the conversations that we have and how people view things,” Holmes says. “We get to hear opinions from someone who is a nurse and experiences that stuff a lot and people like myself who write about it. Having so many majors in the class definitely changes how people approach different conversations and different topics.”
Alongside lectures, storytelling analysis and creative projects, the course also integrated guest speakers who provided insights into the reality of true crime. One of which was a forensics nurse from St. Elizabeth Healthcare who discussed a range of true crime topics pertinent to her everyday job, including rape kit exams, strangulation statistics and the chain of custody for police evidence.
“I’m not someone who enjoys seeing blood and gore, but her talk was really interesting,” Holmes says. “Just getting to see that side of things, and why she does what she does and how she is able to do her job without letting it affect her.”
The course culminated in a final project that students were able to shape according to their interests. Holmes wrote a novella about two true crime podcasters who are faced with an ethical dilemma when they become the victims of a serious crime. Through projects like these that allow for creative liberties, Dr. Jankowski aims for students to leave the course with a deeper understanding of responsible storytelling that they can apply to any career path.
“It’s exciting, of course, every time you teach something for the first time,” Dr. Jankowski says. “The students are great, they’re interested and they’re excited about it, and I hope that we get to do it again.”
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