Objectivity is a key aspect of hard news reporting. Ideally, the reporter should only provide the reader with the facts and not allow his/her personal feelings about a specific event or crime to be identifiable in a report. However, journalists sometimes employ both obvious and subtle ways to enhance the entertainment value of a specific event or crime in order to grab and keep the attention of the readers. The use of sensationalism affects the reader to form certain opinions about a crime or the individuals involved in the crime. This inquiry tries to distinguish the techniques used to incorporate both subtle and obvious sensationalism in online reports of four murders that took place in South Africa between 2009 and 2016. While subtle sensationalism is incorporated in different ways in media reports, appraisal theory is employed to distinguish obvious sensationalism in this inquiry.