This thesis examines the successful podcast Serial that has fascinated millions of listeners all over the world. Six million unique listeners have downloaded each of the 12 episodes, and the numbers are still increasing. Serial was launched as a journalistic investigation of an actual event where the terms were set: the journalist and narrator would investigate if the right person was convicted for the murder of a young girl in Maryland, USA, back in 1999, and thereby she would question the verdict from 16 years ago.This thesis centres on the journalistic product as well as the journalistic process behind this type of journalism.The first part of the thesis investigates Serial as a journalistic product. By using text analysis as a method, we analyse the advantages and disadvantages occurring from the use of fiction devices in Serial.We conclude that Serial uses a wide range of fiction devices, and that it is consistent with the dramaturgical formula for a fictional detective series. But the story is not fiction; it explores an actual event, and therefore the use of fiction devices causes disadvantages too, including to the real-life people mentioned in the podcast, by presenting them in a victim/villain framework. The narrative is not able to meet the expectations of a dramaturgical climax, and the open ending leaves the people involved with suspicions hanging over their heads.The second part of the thesis explores the journalistic process behind a production as Serial. We analyse our own journalistic research process with material collected for a similar radio series, from Serial’s example.We conclude that the journalistic techniques, characteristic for Serial, where the research is presented along the way while the reporter is still unravelling the story, is connected to immense journalistic challenges. To the extreme, these challenges may collide with journalistic ethics and quality journalism.
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