What Is the public interest in crime news? The expressive function of newsworthiness

This chapter addresses the normative question of whether there is some genuine public interest served by crime news. I approach this question by looking at a parallel with theories of punishment. Although punishment and crime news are different in important ways, I suggest that some of the reasons that speak in favour of the former might also speak in favour of the latter. I look at the fact that both punishment and crime news have a communicative role. I evaluate three communicative roles that both punishment and news might be proposed to play: (1) shaming of offenders; (2) denouncing crime; and (3) expressively marking the significance of crime as a violation of important values. I defend (3), that the public interest in crime news lies in the need for expressively marking significant and extraordinary events that ought not to be met with silence.