Too much reality? / Australian News [Gotcha blog], 4 February 2007
http://digbig.com/4reqy
Gary Hughes
"How much graphic detail should the media report from court cases involving extreme violence or sexual offences? There’s an assumption by many media outlets that true crime sells. Certainly true crime books and television documentaries attract big audiences. But this assumption might be wrong. A survey in Vancouver, where Canada’s potentially worst serial killer court case is underway, has found public opinion slightly in favour of the media restricting how much gruesome detail it reports.
The survey by the Mustel Group was commissioned by the University of British Columbia’s School of Journalism. It showed that 56 per cent believed the media should restrict violent and sexually explicit details that arise at the trial, compared with 37 per cent who believe the public should know as much detail as possible. The remaining seven per cent did not know."