Journal of Media Ethics· 2026Q1
On the Ethical Fringes of Journalism: True Crime Podcasting as Diagnostic Journalism
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
True crime podcasts, operating at the periphery of journalism, are adopting novel ethical practices by combining journalistic and forensic psychology expertise, as seen in the analysis of the 'Hidden True Crime' podcast's first season.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- True crime podcasts operate at the periphery of journalism, adopting unique ethical practices.
- The 'Hidden True Crime' podcast (Season 1) is analyzed for its discursive construction of ethical practices.
- A combination of journalistic and forensic psychology expertise was used by the podcast hosts.
- The Aristotelian Phronesis Model is proposed as a framework for understanding journalistic normative commitments.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Operating on the journalistic periphery, true crime podcasts offer a growing space with practices historically associated with journalism. That said, distance from the normative core of journalism allows true crime podcasts to approach ethical work in novel ways, at times operating as “heretic interlopers” because they have eschewed essential ethical norms within the journalistic field. This textual analysis explores how Season 1 of the Hidden True Crime podcast discursively constructed ethically acceptable practices when discussing a series of murders perpetrated by Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. The podcast’s hosts combined two professional fields: one host was a journalist and the other was a forensic psychologist. This case offers a novel connection between field theory and media ethics, applying the Aristotelian Phronesis Model as a touchstone for journalists’ normative commitments. Hence, this study suggests that centrality in the journalistic field occurs in part through adherence to ethics.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Media Ethics, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Communication
CommunicationSocial Sciences