Giving voice to the accused: Serial and the critical potential of true crime |
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| Authors: | Michael Buozis |
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| Institution: | School of Media and Communication, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA |
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| Abstract: | The first season of Serial, to date the most popular podcast in the medium’s decade-long history, told the story of the conviction of 18-year-old Adnan Syed in 2000 for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. At the center of Serial, producer Sarah Koenig presented Syed’s voice, his take on the prosecution’s evidence, and his own contemporaneous experience. This essay examines the way Serial used Syed’s voice to challenge institutional truth claims from within the textual space of crime journalism. “Criminal biography,” as a genre affordance of true crime, offers a textual means to interrogate modes of truth production and representation. |
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| Keywords: | Journalism true crime criminal justice Serial sourcing practices |
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