AROUND a decade ago, when digital media was still a thing of the future, The Serial hit the market and captured imaginations. An investigative podcast that looks into an earlier murder of an 18-year-old high school girl in the United States, the episodes take the listener to the murder, its investigation and the trial. Her boyfriend was convicted of the murder. The podcast takes a deep dive into the case, raising questions and pointing out loopholes in the prosecution’s case that convicted the young boy.

The podcast was an instant sensation. In a period of two years or so, the podcast had been downloaded 80 million times, setting a still continuing trend of true crime podcasts. Since then, other than the podcasts itself, we have also been treated to a TV series, Only Murders in the Building, which is based on the popularity of the trend, as well as books. For instance, a young adults book, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, (which has now been turned into a show by Netflix) is clearly not just inspired by the investigative journalism but also the original case.

Sadly, journalism in Pakistan rarely spares time for any issue other than high politics; even crime is a sideshow in our little world.

Be it papers or television, crime rarely ever makes it into the top headlines or the front page, and even less frequently does it lead to in-depth reporting.

But recently, two women journalists took the decision to........

© Dawn