We don't know if there has as yet been any empirical research done on how interested media consumers are in online crime mapping -- and how good the coverage is --  but there is a body of literature debating readers' interest in crime per se.  It would seem to be a pretty good bet, though, that if people are interested in crime AND if more and more are going online via broadband, that some dynamic crime maps would get some hits. 

Remember that crime mapping is not just about pushing digital push-pins on a map, GoogleMap or otherwise.  "Journey to Crime" maps or maps showing where a car was stolen and when it was recovered can provide interesting insights.

Here are some links recently posted to the CrimeMapping listserv that could be of value to journalists:

Journey-after-crime: How Far and to Which Direction DO They Go?
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/maps/boston2004/papers/Lu.ppt

Linking Offender Residence Probability Surfaces to a Specific Incident Location
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/maps/dallas2001/Gore.doc

Journey to Crime Estimation
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/CRIMESTAT/files/CrimeStatChapter.10.pdf

Applications for Examining the Journey-to-Crime Using Incident-Based Offender Residence Probability Surfaces
http://pqx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/7/4/457

The Geography of Transit Crime:
http://www.uctc.net/papers/550.pdf

See, too: Paulsen, Derek J.  "WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS: EXPLORING THE ROLE OF NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF HOMICIDE IN SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTING DANGEROUS PLACES." Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture, 9(3) (2002) 113-127