Spinning the Web

Crime reporting: The Internet as a medium acknowledges no boundaries or geographical barriers and the implications of such globally unrestricted access are far wider than the mainstream consideration of several ethical and legal aspects accompanying traditional reportage on an international scale. Crime reports on the Internet now complement the text of their narrative with audio and visual detail, bringing the audience ever closer to the scene of the crime and, in many instances, to the perpetrator and victim, again raising ethical issues and reopening the argument of the public’s right to know versus the individual’s desire for privacy.This book investigates the influence of the Internet on the reporting of crime and criminal justice in traditional media, focusing on the hitherto unexplored nexus of media, crime and the Internet. The research represents a triangulated study, based on results obtained from an analysis of Internet crime sites, a process of elite interviewing of practising journalists and academics and demonstration case studies of three high-profile crimes.