Interviewed for the featured cover story on “academically rigorous and emotionally challenging courses” regarding JOMC 222: https://www.huskeralum.org/s/1620/magazine/interior.aspx?sid=1620&gid=1&pgid=3086

Interviewed for a piece titled “Why Do We Engage With True Crime.” Watch video here.

Excerpt: “One of the major reasons why true crime might feel like it’s having a moment now is because its popularity is more measurable through links, clicks, downloads and streams, said Kelli Boling, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska who studies audience reception to true crime podcasts. The intersection of the true crime genre and podcasts has also been part of that boom. The first season of the “Serial” podcast (2014), which focuses on the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee and the case against her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed who was charged with the murder, marks this turning point, Boling argues.”  Read entire article here

Excerpt: “That’s why I’m so thrilled to have Kelli Boling joining us today. Kelli is an Assistant Professor of Advertising and Public Relations in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After 12 years as a marketing and advertising executive in North and South Carolina, Boling received her Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina in Mass Communication. Her research focuses on the audience reception of media, specifically media depiction and reception by traditionally marginalized audiences based on race and gender.” Listen to the episode here.

Excerpt: “It’s no surprise that Rittenhouse’s trial has taken off on social media, said Kelli Boling, an assistant professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who has researched true-crime audiences. She’s found people are fascinated by true crime for myriad reasons, including trying to better protect themselves from potential violence and a desire to see justice served. The interest is not a novel concept by any means, she said. “We couldn’t quantify it in 1920; that doesn’t mean society wasn’t obsessed with it,” she said.” Read Article.

In this interview with the Day 6 Podcast, I discussed true crime podcasts in relation to the Gabby Petito case. Listen here.

Excerpt:

“There’s a lot of different complicated reasons that people are drawn to it, and it’s not all sinister or malicious or creepy,” said Kelli Boling, a professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who has studied audience reception to true-crime podcasts.

She said those fascinated by such cases are sometimes domestic-violence survivors who find that such material can help them deal with their own experiences.

“Some people are really drawn to it from a place of healing, or from a place of wanting to find justice for the young lady,” Boling said.” Read Article.

Excerpt: “True crime is everywhere,” says Kelli Boling, a researcher at the University of South Carolina, who studies true-crime audiences. Boling echoes other scholars of the genre who attribute its surge in recent years to the critical and popular success of Serial and to the docuseries Making a Murderer on Netflix and The Jinx on HBO, which both aired in 2015. “When you watch the nightly newscast, you’re watching true crime,” she says. “What makes the genre special is that it turns those facts into a narrative, a really strong story.” Read Article