How dangerous is true crime really? “The Germans are the worst”

Leipzig- Hardly any other topic is currently as popular around the world as the “True Crime” genre, in which real criminal cases are retold for podcasts, reports or magazines. The MDR series “exactly” takes a critical look at the hype in its new article.

For the show, reporter Daniel Tautz had to delve deep into the world of “true crime” – and was left partly shocked by his discoveries, especially during his visit to a live show of the German podcast “Weird Crimes” in Hamburg.

In front of 10,000 spectators, Tautz was there live when convicted criminal Ma Anand Sheela (74) was brought onto the stage to thunderous applause. One might think that the woman is a superstar – and not the driving force behind the first and largest bioterrorism attack in US history.

During the podcast live show, Ma Anand Sheela was available for selfies and casual conversations, but critical questions were not answered. A subsequent statement from the hosts Visa Vie (37) and Ines Anioli (38) was also rather meager.

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“That was one of the biggest transgressions in the German true crime game,” Tautz could only shake his head after the performance. And that is precisely the crux of the genre: According to experts, many formats are simply not sufficiently well researched and thought through, and often the relatives of the victims in question are not even contacted in advance.

This means that retraumatization is being accepted – all in the name of entertainment and commerce, which is the devastating assessment of critics.

How many “true crime” formats are really well produced and researched? “Ten percent are well done, the rest are bad,” is the harsh assessment of a private investigator who wishes to remain anonymous in the article.

He has been investigating the unsolved Lars Mittank case for ten years and receives press inquiries from all over the world almost every day: “But the Germans are the worst.” Because they often “just start reporting” without considering the consequences. Especially with regard to Lars Mittank’s mother, who has since had to withdraw from public life, “it shakes me,” says the investigator.

So when reporting, you always have to ask yourself the question: “Am I doing something good for the family or am I hurting them and stabbing them?” This opinion is shared by Daniel Müller from the “True Crime” podcast “Zeit Verbrechen”, who always tries to talk to the victims first before reporting on his stories.

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His podcast reaches an average of up to six million people a month, and at peak times even twice as many, making it one of the most successful formats in German-speaking countries. But where does this fascination come from? Müller believes that the “strangeness” is an important factor: people in Germany can generally live peacefully and safely, which is why the cases he deals with offer something “new”: “Something like that wouldn’t fly in Mexico or Iraq.”

You can pick up the complete “exactly” article “True Crime – The Business of Murder” immediately in the ARD media library The show will also be broadcast on MDR at 9:15 p.m.