If it wasn’t for the 28 million people who have downloaded the podcast, it might have been just another murder charge.

But from the moment Chris Dawson was led from the tarmac at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport and into the back of an unmarked police car this week, he has been perhaps the most watched man in Australia.

Dawson was arrested at his home in Queensland on Wednesday in connection with the disappearance and suspected murder of his former wife, Lyn, almost 37 years ago.

On Thursday he was extradited back to New South Wales, where he was charged with her murder and formally refused bail.

And thanks to the award-winning, global podcast phenomenon the Teacher’s Pet, released by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian newspaper this May, his every move has been watched not just by Australians but by the millions across the globe engrossed by his story.

But following his arrest questions are being asked about the implications of true crime podcasts for the legal system, and whether Dawson can receive a fair trial following the attention lavished on his case.

The Teacher’s Pet podcast has been downloaded more than 28 million times globally since its release and its lead reporter, Hedley Thomas, received Australia’s highest journalism accolade, the gold Walkley, in November.

It helped to unearth new evidence including two new witnesses which the NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller this week said helped homicide detectives to “tie pieces of the puzzle together” in the lead-up to Dawson’s arrest.

Though other hugely popular series such as Serial in the US have uncovered fresh evidence leading to retrials for people found guilty of crimes, the role of the Teacher’s Pet as interrogator raises questions about the role of the media in criminal proceedings.

On Thursday, Dawson’s lawyer, Greg Walsh, told journalists outside court that the intense public interest in the case was a concern. He said some reporting had come from “an ideological perspective” that Dawson “must be guilty”.

“That is a worry because it can distort people’s memories and there have been significant delays in this case and inadequacies in the investigation by the police,” he said.

But others argue that true crime podcasts have helped to add a layer of complexity and nuance to the genre of true crime reporting, and argue that media attention, no matter how intense, is nothing new for the legal system.

“My gut reaction is that journalism has always been a curse for defendants,” Thalia Anthony, a University of Technology Sydney law professor told the Guardian this week.

“Trial by media is nothing new, in that sense, but I think the strength of some of the podcasts like Teacher’s Pet and Serial is they do something which tabloid newspapers haven’t done in the past by providing a layer of accountability and transparency in the process.

“Think of the Sun in the UK running the headline ‘the truth’ after Hillsborough, in those examples you don’t get to, I guess, understand what biases are operating, whereas in a podcast you get a frankness of the journalist’s purpose but also a sense of their sources and the depth of the investigation.”

‘Popularity itself doesn’t necessarily compromise a trial’

Mother of two Lynette Dawson disappeared from her home on the northern beaches of Sydney in January 1982, when she was 33 years old.

Chris, her husband, a former first grade rugby league player and PE teacher, has maintained ever since that he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

But the mystery and circumstances surrounding the case have remained unanswered in the decades since, with no previous arrests despite two coronial inquests finding Dawson most likely killed his wife.

And the podcast has heaped the full force of the Australian media’s glare on the case. Hedley Thomas – one of Australia’s most prominent journalists – has been at the centre of that.

Peter Fray, a former editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald and now a journalism academic, said the collaboration between Thomas and the police was noteworthy.

“I think it’s new use of the genre for two reasons. I mean first of all it brings up the question of trial by media, but I think what’s also interesting about Teacher’s Pet is the extent to which Hedley Thomas worked with the cops,” he said.

“He’s obviously not the first journalist to work closely with cops, the exchange of ideas, contacts and information is sort of stock-in-trade for crime reporters, but I think the extent of the collaboration is somewhat new.”

But does that hinder Chris Dawson’s right to a fair trial?

Tyrone Kirchengast, a professor in criminal law at the University of Sydney, said any investigative crime reporting risked some form of prejudice to a defendant.

“Really any kind of investigative reporting, particularly a podcast like this that turns out to be so popular, you’re talking about exposing a large number of people to something which could potentially influence or taint them as a juror,” he said.

“It’s an example really of how good intentioned reporting looking at victim rights could effect rights of the accused.”

But Kirchengast said that while podcasts might be a newer form of media, widespread exposure to a case was nothing new. He said criminal justice “shouldn’t try to compete” with technology.

“Popularity itself doesn’t necessarily compromise a trial,” he said.

“Could we still find 12 jurors who haven’t listened to the podcast? I think so.”

Doug Humphreys, the president of the New South Wales Law Society, agreed. He said that despite the reach of Teacher’s Pet and other high-profile podcast series, the media’s interest in important cases is nothing new.

“In any high-profile case there is always significant media attention and often courts go to extra lengths to warn juries to approach matters only on the basis of what is before the court,” he told the Guardian.

“To date we’ve been largely successful in ensuring that’s the case. Obviously there have been some exceptions in the past, but all we can do is rely on the integrity of the system and the jury to only try matters based on what’s before them.”

Thalia Anthony too said the criminal justice system’s role was to limit the role of prejudice, and said it was likely Dawson would face a judge alone trial.

“There are protections in our criminal justice system to provide for a fair trial, the transfer of location, for example, though no where is immune when 28 million people have listened to it,” she said.