This paper outlines the distorted nature of press reporting of English and Welsh homicides. We investigated the reporting of 2,685 homicides in England and Wales in three national newspapers: The Times, the Mail and the Mirror in the period 1993-97. By systematically charting the nature of reporting distortions, we explore the contribution of newspapers to the social construction of homicide. The study analysed a wide range of variables to explain homicide story salience: the circumstance of the killing was found to play a crucial role in whether a homicide is reported, with sexual homicides and motiveless acts being more likely to be reported. Homicides involving young children are highly likely to be reported, but infant homicides are not. These public narratives construct homicide differently to the reality of illegal killing, highlighting particular versions of 'otherness' and danger. Such distorted contributions to framing criminological problems may, we argue, foster political and social responses to homicide that are not based on statistical reality but media representations of reality.

This study describes the reporting trajectories of the 13 cases that received the most coverage in a leading British newspaper, The Times, over a period of 23 years (1977 to 1999 inclusive). We have classified these as 'mega-cases'. This approach moves beyond merely measuring the coverage of cases to charting how cases can escalate to become 'moral panics', move into a shared 'general knowledge' of killing or, in some cases, come to occupy iconic status. Some 'mega' cases fade from consciousness when viewed over a period of time. In 'mega-cases' there is an unexpected 'primary incident' that makes the case newsworthy in the first instance. Then the 'formal process' helps to manage a homicide within accepted and acceptable boundaries. In broad terms, the media trajectories of these 'mega-cases' following the 'primary incident' are predictable. However, further unexpected 'incidents' unrelated to 'process' - suicides, attacks by other prisoners, escapes - challenge the predictability of these 'mega-cases'. The trajectories of homicide cases that begin to link in with wider societal agendas are the most difficult to predict.

The Times Index is a well-established and important paper resource for researchers that is perhaps not fully recognized. Using a study on ‘Homicide and the Media’ as an exemplar, this article considers the strengths and weaknesses of the Index.The Index will usually provide better focus into the researcher’s area of study than CD-ROM searches, and can identify stories which CD-ROM searches miss. A modest quality control study indicates its accuracy, but it is stressed that a quality control test is study-specific.

Recent work on homicide and the media has focused on the United States. This study considers the British context and examines the coverage of homicide by a leading British newspaper (The Times) over a period of 23 years (1977 to 1999 inclusive). The focus is on the newspaper coverage of the top cases each year and over the whole period. This approach allows for an exploration of the hierarchy within ‘media–homicides’ that are distinguished in terms of ‘mega–cases’, ‘mezzo–cases’ and ‘routine cases’. Hence, this issue is shown to be a more complex social and cultural phenomenon than is usually understood through the traditional binary ‘reported–non reported’ approach. The importance of unusualness and cultural context is emphasised in fully understanding how homicides become, particularly, mega–cases.