The management literature on wrongdoing in and around organizations has tended to view transgressions as being a result of either “bad apples” (individuals predisposed to crossing the line between right and wrong) or “bad barrels” (organizations that create the conditions for crossing the line between right and wrong). In either case, the line between right and wrong is considered exogenous to the transgression. More recent constructionist approaches to organizational wrongdoing, however, have called for understanding how the line between right and wrong is actually constructed and evaluated, and conceives of “transgressions” as endogenously embedded within a broader sensemaking process involving a number of different social actors. Using a new approach to hierarchical topic modeling, we explore the role of the media in shaping the fates of British MPs during the 2009 Parliamentary expenses scandal. We find that the British media fundamentally shaped the temporal dynamics of this episode, and in doing so influenced both the line between right and wrong as well as the fates of the MPs who allegedly crossed it. Our findings provide important support for constructionist accounts of wrongdoing in organizations, and raise key questions about the role of the media in defining and shaping misconduct.