Karla Homolka. Thanks to Canadian media, that name has become an icon that the public is supposed to be afraid of. The public is taught to fear certain things such as serial killers like Paul Bernardo and Homolka, What people might not realize is that the sort of crimes we are supposed to fear happen infrequently. In fact, a lot more people die every year by white collar crime and unsafe working conditions, yet this never gets reported because it is not seen by the media as an exciting story.

Newspapers reporting on crime have shifted their focus to more serious and violent crimes according to research conducted by Robert Reiner, Sonia Livingstone and Jessica Allen. Alongside this, they argue that news and editorial values tend to represent crime as ever-present and common; an everyday threat rather than a one-off disturbance, as they more commonly did in the past.

On July 4 when Karla Homolka was set free, Radio-Canada, CBC’s French-language network, gave her a voice within hours, granting her a broadcasted interview. The media has written countless articles debating where she might settle, encouraging people to voice their concerns and murder threats if the killer moves into their neighbourhood. Does the public really have anything to fear from serial killers? The answer is a big fat no. Yet because of the over exposure serial killers get in the media, the public believes that they are in constant danger of being murdered.

According to the UN, more than 2 million people have died in job-related accidents and illnesses and the toll rising because of rapid industrialization in some developing countries. This is not the stuff that front page articles are made of apparently.

Another type of crime that goes underreported is white collar crime. When people think of white collar crime they think non-violent, economic crime, but they are misled. A lot of white collar crime is in fact violent, injures people, makes people sick, and can kill people at work. This sort of crime is conceptualized as an ?accident? when there are actually conscience actions at work. For example, the story of the miners in China that died in a coal mine last July didn?t get much coverage even though 83 people were killed. Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo get the big headlines when they only killed three people.

Who is the offender in white collar crime? And there lies the problem. There is a lot of ambiguity when trying to point fingers at who is responsible for this sort of crime
whereas in street crime, there is a clear, direct link between the bad guy and the victim. For reporters this is great news because the story is simple, easy to understand and it fits news format.

A recent article by the Canadian Press reported that Homolka is seeking a ?wide ranging injunction aimed at preventing media from reporting anything about her?. In my opinion, this seems like a very good idea. Why? Because the media only reports on crime that they can sensationalize, that is easy to explain, and that can perpetuate more readership for their newspaper, magazine or broadcast. They do not report on issues that can have a real impact on the readers. Those who were responsible for the gas explosion that killed the dozens of minors were never put on the front page or on any page for that matter, instead the media reported a ?violation of production procedures and poor management” to explain the explosion. Not one name. Just ?poor management?. So they get off with murder and the public never realizes where the real dangers can come from.

There is a notable absence of stories that deal with state violence and corporate violence. This leads to saturation storytelling- primary crime news stories overshadow other stories. Even during the period of the Vietnam War and Watergate, newspapers still covered mostly street crime.

The ultimate goal of the media is profit. They want to put out a product that will appeal to the largest amount of people; stories on street crime such as serial killers attract readers. Ultimately, they ignore the dangerous behaviour of powerful groups and leave the public vulnerable to the real dangers out there.






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