Serial Killers And The Media

The response we give or receive from the media regarding serial killers differs from person to person depending on the environment they are in or were brought up in.

Violence is something that occurs everyday and everywhere no matter how much most of us wish it didn't. The media plays a large role in how we receive our information regarding serial killers and that is not just speaking about the news and newspapers. We here about serial killers in fiction books, magazines, movies and television sitcoms and references to them in some different types of music.

A serial murder is one that occur over a period of time at different times, whose motive is not for material gain and when there is usually no prior relationship between the victim and the offender. These types of murders usually take place in different geographical areas and the victims usually have a strange relationship to one another though they don't actually know each other like the homeless, prostitutes, homosexuals and missing children. (Egger, P.5)

Serial killers have existed for a long time and the media accounts of their behavior have been getting published ever since the beginning of the publishing industry. (Egger, p. 100) When we hear about serial killers, we usually hear what is called a profile of that person, which is one of the first things most journalists ask of the law enforcement agency dealing with that particular killer. (Egger. P.101)

Television networks have continuously made profit from the serial killers' lives by having famous actors and actresses play them on TV shows and in movies. Given that the public finds the life of a serial killer to be interesting and with the heinous acts that they portray, it gives the media reason to put these killers lives on display for the world to view. We the people want to understand why a person did what they did and the details fall into place, though the victims and their family may not allow too many of those details to go public.

Some famous films that have been known to make a mockery of the serial killers are Helter Skelter, The Silence of The Lambs, To Catch a Killer and the Boston Strangler. We watch these movies for entertainment purposes mostly but very few may watch for the educational matters that lie between the lines which gives us hints on how to protect ourselves against a murderer or serial murderer before they are approached with the situation.

The movies are not the only place that we will find references to serial killers; we find them in art and music also. The famous case of Jack the Ripper, is one that was portrayed in art allegedly by the killer himself, naming him Walter Sickert. Sickert