Missing the Signs: The McArthur Murders and the Challenge of Effective Policing

The complexity of the McArthur murders as a phenomenon, and the empirical chain of events the murders catalyzed in Toronto (and Canada) should not be understood as a comparative measure for other serial killer cases. Instead, the involved actors' identities, including sexual orientation, racial identity, ethnic background, immigration status, and class status, combined to create an inherently intersectional mediatized phenomenon. Studying media coverage of the McArthur murders phenomenologically may give one indication of how news media approach complex stories imbued with non-normative or deviant details. As such, this book investigates the following broad research problem. How do two major Canadian media outlets, using two different mediums, frame a complex phenomenon involving actors with intersecting identities in their coverage?