Justice on request? The real criminal podcasts that Erin Patterson's mushroom murder process serve

The attempt by the so -called “mushroom chef” Erin Patterson, who is currently taking place in the Victorian city of Morwell, continues to create global attention.

The mother of two children is charged with three murder cases and a count of a murder attempted what they deny all.

Due to the regional location of the hearing and the conservative attitude of Australia to use cameras in the courtroom, many people pursue the case on podcast. This is not surprising because Australia has one of the highest percentage of the podcast consumers in the world.

The top 10 podcast diagram from Apple Australia currently includes three podcasts supported with network, which are dedicated to the mushroom housing. They essentially present the same information, but through different formats and structures and in different success.

In contrast to investigations in the event of a case, which focus on collapse in the legal system, podcasts unpacked complex problems in real-time podcasts in real time and provide the audience information while a case is divided.

Death Cap dinner claimed back

In July 2023, the public prosecutor claimed that Erin Patterson laced up four beef welling tons with death captreatation mushrooms and served their in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, the deadly lunch. Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson; And her husband Ian Wilkinson. But the defense has raised doubts about these claims.

The attempt, now in his third week, has captured the nation. The jury heard of Erins children together with Facebook friends and the only surviving guest Ian Wilkinson, a pastor who spent almost two months in the hospital after lunch.

Justice on request

In Australia, the principle of open justice – that justice should not only be done, but also as being done – is a cornerstone of the legal system. This includes fair and accurate reports on judicial proceedings and the ensuring that court information is accessible to the media and the public.

New media forms such as podcasts also depend on democracy and accessibility. Everyone can speak and everyone can listen anywhere. Of course, real criminal podcasts are (and sometimes problematic) with the process of open justice.

Let us take the teacher's podcast of the Australian podcast, which followed the controversial examination of the disappearance of Lynette Dawson from the northern beaches of Sydney in 1982. It was the first time in Australian legal history that a serialized podcast was cited as the main reason for an application for a permanent stay of the procedure.

While the permanent stay was rejected, the court granted a temporary stay for nine months. At the hearing, Justice Elizabeth Fullerton described the podcast “the most outrageous example of media interference in criminal proceedings”. She described it as “overzealous”, “uncensored” and “permeating with hybris”.

However, there are some important differences between the teacher's pet and the new Podrohr Case Podcast.

The teacher's pet imposed a cold case again and uses investigative journalism to arouse interest in the real-time solution of the case with the help of the audience. This process, which is referred to as the Court of Justice, positions the podcast host as a journalist who has been converted with the investment.

In contrast, the podcasts in the Patterson case are largely based on objective reporting in order to build up the understanding of the listeners for the context, which led to the tragic death of three people. These podcasts do not express an express evidence. This enables you to rock the potential for “testing through media”.

The mushroom case daily

One of the most popular podcasts that follow the Patterson housing is the ABC mushroom case every day.

Like the high-ranking podcast in Australia's Apple charts at the time of writing, the Daily contains digestible summaries of the most important moments in the process, with court reporter Kristian Silva and the producer Stephen Stockwell (Stocky) being recorded every day by a temporary studio in Morwell.

As the first podcast of its kind on the market (from March 2024), the daily newspaper is informative and committed, but is not sensational or selfish. However, it reports on the facts, but is not afraid of sensitive identification with the victims and helps the audience to involve history.

Interestingly, the Daily even builds empathy for Patterson itself. It humanized the accused by reporting on their emotional representations and tries to understand their actions and reactions instead of just slandering them.

The daily newspaper also refuses to speculate whether Patterson is guilty or not, as well as its competitors. The legal and ethical obligation of court reporters will maintain, maintain impartiality and not to misinterpret or incorrectly interpret information.

At the same time, it is one of the more intimate accounts of the experiment with a relaxed and talkative style. It is also more interactive than its competitors because the audience is encouraged to enroll with questions.

The mushroom chef and says mercy

The mushroom chef: the attempt and the mushroom attempt: say Grace are also popular with listeners.

Both are uploaded regularly with the aim of summarizing the events of the daily process and emphasizing the most important revelations.

The mushroom chef is presented by Herald Sun Sun Journalist Brooke Gebert-Craig and Laura Placella. It began in April 2024 with a detailed explanation of the case in anticipation of the criminal procedure and last year continued to report on developments about short episodes of 15 minutes or less.

Say Grace, a 9 podcast by Penelope Liersch (nine) and Erin Pearson (The Age), began on April 20 of this year, the day of the jury's selection. It offers more detailed episodes of about 30 minutes.

In contrast to the daily newspaper, these two podcasts use voice actors who carry out the testimony. This conveys a feeling of authenticity and immediacy; The listeners have the feeling that they themselves are in the courtroom and are familiar with the evidence. However, the ethics of nuisance in video and audio documentary films is cloudy. While some people say that they help understand that others may see them as prejudices or distorting reality.

Like the daily newspaper, both the mushroom chef and the Grace are very aware of the potential ethical and legal risks of reporting on the case. They take care of avoiding assumptions and incorrect representations, for example by using explicit liability exclusions.

Although both podcasts are presented in a casual and conversative style, Grace offers a more detailed comment on the case, whereby the descriptive language is used to paint a lively picture of the legal procedure.

Ultimately, each of these three podcasts serves more than just suspecting the audience. They offer an important public service by reporting the truth and receiving open justice.