The Press: News Value of Murder

Every once in a while a murder is committed that unites in one "news story" all the sleeping romantic fancies of human nature. Such a murder is the Dorothy King case. It has love (and illicit love—which is always more fascinating), riches, social prestige, an underworld motif, intrigue and violence. It appeals to snobbery, outraged morality, pity, terror and man's appetite for the human hunt. Thousands of plain people, reading the lurid three-page account in the Hearst press, can imagine themselves either the beautiful Broadway butterfly, Dorothy King; the rich and socially...

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