How and why does a serial killer like Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper become an iconic symbol of evil in the popular culture? No doubt, it has to do with the terrible actions of the men themselves. However, the monster image of these individuals is also due in large part to the massive mediaexposure they receive and the accepted authority of those labeling them as evil.

Collectively, the news media are a powerful and important set of actors in the social construction of evil and public monsters. The crime news coverage of so-called monsters is typically stylized and exaggerated in order to entice a wide public audience. Journalistic hyperbole makes them appear to be much more threatening to society than they actually are.

Public concern and anxiety are heightened through journalistic exaggeration and, as a result, socially constructed monsters are demonized in the minds of the public. It must be remembered that the entertainment news media have a vested interest in tantalizing and even scaring the public. Sensationalized news content attracts a wide audience and a large audience attracts highly coveted advertisingrevenue.

Serial homicide has long occupied a high-ranking position in media perceptions of what constitutes a newsworthy story, and so it should not be surprising that the news media are so instrumental to the social construction of serial killers.

One of the most sensationalized and hyped serial killer stories in U.S. history was that of Jeffrey Dahmer, who was depicted as the “Milwaukee Cannibal” by the entertainment news media. Dahmer raped, murdered, dismembered and ate seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991 in Wisconsin.

The unrivaled gruesomeness of the case virtually ensured that it would become one of the best known serial homicide stories of all time. Although the crimes took place in Milwaukee, media interest was nation- and worldwide. The New York Times, for example, ran either a half- or full-page feature article on the case for ten consecutive days following Dahmer’s arrest in July 1991.

There were numerous features and interviews on all of the major network television talk shows and news programs such as ABC’s 20/20 and CBS’s 48 Hours. According to news reports in the Milwaukee Journal, an estimated 450 journalists came to Milwaukee to cover the case and the ensuing trial of Dahmer. A common news headline about the killer at the time asked the question, “Jeffrey Dahmer: Man or Monster?”

Shortly after Dahmer’s capture, the front cover of People magazine published on August 12, 1991 read:

Horror in Milwaukee: He was a quiet man who worked in a chocolate factory. But at an apartment 213 a real-life “Silence of the Lambs” was unfolding. Now that Jeffrey Dahmer has confessed to 17 grotesque murders, his troubling history of alcoholism, sexoffenses and bizarre behavior raises a haunting question: Why wasn’t he stopped?

Major news and entertainment news media outlets, including People magazine and many others, focused on the cannibalism aspect of Dahmer’s case to reinforce a connection with the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

The blockbuster film The Silence of the Lambs which starred Anthony Hopkins as Lecter was at the very height of its popularity and cultural impact at exactly the right time for this connection. It had been released to U.S. audiences on January 30, 1991, only six months prior to Dahmer’s capture. By linking him to Hannibal Lecter, the news media dehumanized Jeffrey Dahmer and framed him as a stylized super predator and cannibal.

The vast impact of this particular case is evidenced by the wide appeal of morbid cannibalism-themed jokes and atrocity tales based on Jeffrey Dahmer that remain popular today, despite the fact that he was killed in prison by a fellow inmate in 1994.

Much like law enforcement authorities, the news media frequently refer to serial killers in supernatural terms by using inflammatory words such as “evil,” “monster” or “devil” to describe them. For example, Jeff Kamen, a veteran journalist who covered the David Berkowitz trial and sat close to him in court said, “Sitting there near him [Berkowitz] I felt as if I was in the presence of pure evil.” Twenty-five years following the arrest and incarceration of Berkowitz, the New York Post ran a retrospective story about him which had the headline “A Summer in Fear of the Monster Next Door.”

In another example, following the arrest of BTK in 2005, the Washington Post ran a story about Dennis Rader with the headline “The Devil Inside” and Newsweek magazine ran an article about his wife that was titled “Married to a Monster: Paula Rader.” Similarly, after Jeffrey Dahmer was beaten to death in prison by a fellow inmate the cover of People magazine referred to his demise as the “Death of a Madman.”

Journalists who rely on hyperbole and exaggeration to present serial killers as supernatural monsters are doing so for their own selfish purposes—that is, to entice their audience—and they are demonstrating no regard for the consequences of their actions. Similar to law enforcement authorities who perpetuate serial killer myths and stereotypes, journalists who do the same thing are acting unethically.

The news media blur the distinction between reality and fiction and obscure the truth about serial homicide when they turn the killers into stylized and cartoonish super predators. By engaging in such unethical behavior, journalists are doing a gross injustice to society and they also provide an undeserved public forum for cold-blooded murderers who crave the limelight and public attention.

In other words, exaggerated journalistic rhetoric may be good for the financial bottom line of the media but it desensitizes society to the terrible reality of serial murder. Moreover, it gives psychopathic serial killers exactly what they desire—a bright spotlight on the public stage.

I examine the public’s fascination with serial killers in my best-selling book Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World’s Most Savage Murderers.

Dr. Scott Bonn is an author, professor, public speaker and commentator. Follow him @DocBonn on Twitter and visit his website docbonn.com