Given the research of the past 30 years, it is clear that reporting on and dramatizing particularly heinous crimes have appeal for the media, the public, and politicians. Television programs that deal with real crimes have multiplied, and fictional television crime drama series draw large numbers of viewers. Crime as both entertainment and news has so permeated media presentations that crime has become a central focus of popular culture. This has led the public to overestimate the prevalence of violent and heinous crimes and the risk of becoming a victim of such crimes. It has also contributed to ever tougher laws against "street" crimes, sex offenses, and stranger-to-stranger crimes, since these receive the most attention in the media. Further, there continues to be debate about whether this crime-oriented cultural saturation contributes directly to the production of crime and violence. One of the articles summarized in this introductory overview considers the development of criminological research and thinking on crime, media, and popular culture. A second article examines how race becomes an inevitable issue in portrayals of the characteristics of violent criminals. The third article documents the press coverage of the Westray mining explosion in Canada and the developments in news reporting that followed it from 1992 to 2002. 58 references