Gut-wrenching and bewildering true crime documentaries and podcasts have surged in popularity in recent years, showing the public has a growing appetite for these real-life narratives and the questions they evoke.

Media Matters for America incited public backlash this week when it published a series of vulgar comments that Fox News prime-time host Tucker Carlson made as a guest years ago on a shock-jock radio program.

Sensational narratives of celebrity sexual abuse scandals are becoming a subgenre in print and television media in the #MeToo era. The Lifetime cable channel ran a docuseries in January detailing allegations against R&B singer R. Kelly, and The New York Times published an exposé on singer-songwriter Ryan Adams in February. Radio stations have since pulled both musicians’ music.

Parents, pediatricians, and child development experts have long decried the TV content rating system as outdated, inaccurate, and vague.

Now, their voices may be heard: The Federal Communications Commission announced this week it is seeking public comments on the 22-year-old ratings system, known as TV parental guidelines. Last month, Congress ordered the FCC to review the ratings system and report on its effectiveness within 90 days as part of a recently passed funding bill.

First liberals said the racist, anti-gay attack on Empire actor Jussie Smollett, which turned out to be a hoax, proved that hatred and cruelty fuels supporters of President Donald Trump. When police revealed that Smollett, who is African-American and openly homosexual, planned the attack himself to get publicity, conservatives hit back, accusing liberals of groupthink and hysteria in their rush to believe the worst about Trump supporters.

A year after the deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., the Parents Television Council (PTC) is calling out the entertainment industry for ignoring pleas from parents and regulators to curb gun violence in media marketed to children.

Actor Liam Neeson is facing public outrage and condemnation from civil rights advocates this week after a British newspaper published an interview where he described a racist incident that occurred nearly 40 years ago.