Mass Media Portrayal: The Jeffrey Dahmer Case

Mass Media Portrayal

Kevin G. Whitaker

Serial Killers

March 7, 2017

Dr. Job

Mass Media Portrayal

There have been many highly publicized serial homicide cases in the United Sates. Different media sources pour down on these cases and try to cover them as effectively as possible. The Jeffrey Dahmer case became one of the most publicized serial homicide cases in the early 1990’s and the media coverage was phenomenal. News reporters all over the United States and worldwide wanted to cover this event that involved serial killing and cannibalism. Television news broadcasting and newspapers across the country were massively covering this tragic event in the history of the United States.

On July 23, 1991 Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee

She was able to interview neighbor Vernell Bass who said “Jeffrey appeared to be a geek who stayed to himself and did weird thing that other people usually do not do” (CBS News, 2012). She also interviewed some of the victim’s mothers who expressed on national television their pain and disbelief on what was occurring and how horrified they were to find out how their sons lives had ended. Reporter Adams did a great job in bringing out the human side of this story without emphasizing too much on the sensationalism side of the story. She was one of the first reporters to briefly interview Jeffrey Dahmer’s father via telephone and he expressed his sadness and anger towards the news of his son’s criminal actions. In this phone interview Lionel Dahmer told her that he had opposed his son being released on parole after serving almost two years after being convicted of child molestation (CBS News, 2012). He briefly stated that his son had become withdrawn and antisocial starting in his early teenage

She provided information on what authorities discovered inside the apartment. She gave details on the number of human skulls found in the refrigerator and freezer as well as the big kettle on top of the stove used to boil body parts. Reporter Murphy also went into the details of how Dahmer would save some body parts to eat them for dinner. She went into great detail on the necrophilia behavior that Dahmer engaged in after killing his victims and also how he lured them into his apartment by offering them money to pose naked for a photo shoot. The reporter also provided a live cast video of Philip Arreola former Milwaukee Police Chief where he explained that there was a possibility of seventeen victims and some of them were murdered outside of Milwaukee (CBS News, 2012). He also informed on the collaboration of Milwaukee authorities and Ohio authorities on the Dahmer serial killer case. CBS News had a broad coverage of the Jeffrey Dahmer case and provided the public with detailed information that included neighbor interviews, family member interviews, childhood friend interviews and live cast video of the crime scene and its