Monsterlijke verhalen : misdaadsagen in het nieuws en op webforums als retorische constructies

Burger, J.P. (2014)

Doctoral Thesis

News media and web-based discussion forums frequently feature crime stories so monstrous that they defy belief and are classified as crime legends. The present study focuses on the rhetorical means employed by journalists and forum users to convince their audience of the veracity and value – or the lack thereof – of these recur¬rent stories about horrendous crimes. Two cases were studied: stories featuring the motif Drugged and Abused (1885-2008) and the tale type of the Smiley Gang (2003). It is argued that approaching crime legends as rhetorical constructions instead of essentially untrue stories opens new windows for the analysis of both news and vernacular discourse and as a point of departure for critiquing journalistic practices

• Folklore
• Journalism studies
• Crime legends
• Crime news
• Contemporary legend
• Social construction
• Drink spiking
• Rhetoric

• All authors: Burger, J.P.
• Supervisor: Haaften, T. van; Brants, K.L.K.
• Committee: Bovenkerk, F.; Jong, J.C. de; Meder, T.; Reijnders, S.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2014-01-29
• Publisher: Den Haag: Boom Lemma
• ISBN (print): 9789462360501
• ISBN (electronic): 9789460949418