The breakthrough
Sneak-peek introduction to Serial: Ep. 1 "The Alibi" from the podcast Serial: Season One
Meet Connie Walker, a true crime podcast reporter: Watch an interview online from Toronto News with Walker, where she talks about why podcasts are a great medium for investigative journalism.
True crime timeline
Murder Ballad
The Cruel Mother
(SCOT., 1700s)
Difficulty: *
Dying declaration
The last speech, confession and dying declaration of Robert Watts
(SCOT., 1794)
Difficulty: ***
Crime broadside
Execution of M. Atkinson at Durham
(UK, 1864)
Difficulty: **
Pen portrait
Charles Dickens, “A Visit to Newgate”, from Sketches by Boz
(UK, 1836)
Difficulty: ***
Crime magazine
Crime Confessions vol. 1, no. 1
(USA, May 1939)
Difficulty: *
Non-fiction novel
Truman Capote, In Cold Blood
(USA, 1966)
Difficulty: **
Ad for TV show
Australia's Most Wanted
(AU, 1989)
Difficulty: *
Series
Making a Murderer
(dir. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, USA, 2015)
Difficulty: *
Ethics and true crime
True-crime comedy:
- True Crime Obsessed ep. 194 “Monster Preacher” (2021). 5:19-8:11 minutes.
- Wine & Crime Podcast ep. 259 “Kiwi Crimes” (2021). 00:00-02:15 and 42:42-44:45 minutes.
- My Favorite Murder ep. 1 “My firstest Murder” (2016). 10:04-12:55 minutes.
True-crime podcast no. 1
Serial (USA)
- Season One, ep. 1 "The Alibi"
- Season One, ep. 2 "The Breakup"
- Season One, ep. 12 "What We Know"
Running time: 36-55 minutes per episode.
Serial everywhere!:
- A fan-made trailer (2014) Running time: 0:50 minutes.
- News report CNBC Television (2022) Running time: 3:02 minutes.
The sound of Serial: Worksheet
Koenig as a Serial superstar: Watch Sarah Koenig’s acceptance speech at the Peabody Award Show (2014). Running time: 5:31 minutes.
Filicide in New Zealand
Case 20: Phoebe Veitch (WHANGANUI CHRONICLES – PART I)
Unmarried women, baby farming, and female serial killers:
- Group 1: Mothers and children in New Zealand at Phoebe Veitch’s time: Read the article “Mothers and children – 1800s to 1917”.
- Group 2: Baby farming: Read Mary Kay McBrayer’s article “Baby Farming, A Victorian Horror Story”.
- Group 3: Baby farming in New Zealand: Read about baby farmers in New Zealand.
- Group 4: Minnie Dean, the first and only woman to be hanged in New Zealand for her crimes: Read about the baby farmer Minnie Dean.
Missing & Murdered
Missing and murdered: Finding Cleo(CA)
10 episodes
Running time: 33-55 minutes per episode.
Trailer analysis: Watch the trailer for Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo (2019). Running time: 1:11 minutes.
Finding Cleo ep. 1: Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo, ep. 1 “Stolen. Murdered. Missing”. Running time: 33:48 minutes.
Case continued: Material from the podcast's website
Film vs. sound: Missing & Murdered – watch the short documentary Finding Cleo: How a CBC podcast solved the mystery of a missing Indigenous girl. Running time: 12:55 minutes.
Opening Cleo's letters: Final episode of Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo, “Cleo’s letters”. Running time: 55:02 minutes.
Canda's indigenous children:
- AIM ads for Indigenous children.
- Statement of apology to former students at Indian residential schools. The residential school system has had severe personal and social consequences, and the native people, culture, and society are still influenced by this today. In 2008, the then Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologised for Canada’s residential school programme. (Click to watch video)
The significance of Indigenous reporters: Elena Saavedra Buckley’s article “How Indigenous reporters are elevating true crime” in High Country News, (2 January, 2019).
4 assignments - 3 media - 2 students:
- An analysis of the speech “Statement of apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools” given by the then Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008. Part of the assignment must focus on structure and the modes of persuasion.
- An analysis of an AIM ad for Indigenous children in which you focus on the use of images, headlines, and specific words and phrases.
- A discussion of investigative journalism in podcasts. Is a personal reporter better than an objective reporter? Use Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo as an example and include an interview with Connie Walker where she talks about how the podcast makes room for the investigative story.
A cold case from 1888
Do you know Jack the Ripper?: “Jack the Ripper – Infamous and Unknown”. 00:00-1:38 minutes.
Portrait of a woman on the edge of society: Worksheet
The sequel: “Jack the Ripper Pt. 2 – A Coverup Afoot”. Running time: 44:40.
Bad Women: The Ripper Retold (UK)
Ep. 1 “The Ripper Myth”
Running time: 32:37 minutes.
Explainer about East End in the 1880s:
- Read the article “What was life in Whitechapel like during the Jack the Ripper murders?”
- More information for your explainer on victorianweb.org.
