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Running head: TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL
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Television consumption, fear of crime, and racial beliefs: Understanding the relationship
between crime television viewing, fear of crime, and perceptions of races.
Jasmine Hu, Katherine Lai, Julianne Shearer, Christina Cvek
Chapman University
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Abstract
The average American citizen has a myriad of fears, but the fear of death, especially through
crime, tends to be at the forefront of many Americans’ minds. The prevalence of the media in
today’s society has prompted many researchers to discover how much it influences the way we
think. With the pervasive nature of both the fear of crime and the media, it is important to
determine just how much sway television programs hold when it comes to viewers’ perceptions
of races and fear of crime. The aim of this study was to identify how viewing crime shows
contribute to people’s fear of crime and perception of different races. A nationwide sample of
residents in the United States above age 18 was surveyed (N = 1,573). To identify fear of crime
and perception of various races in connection with viewing certain television programs,
correlational analyses were computed in order to determine whether there were any relationships.
Results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship (p<0.01) between viewing crime
shows and fear of crime. However, it was relatively weak (r=.15). There was no statistically
significant relationship between viewing crime shows and perceptions of race. Consistent with
prior research, viewing crime shows has a positive relationship with fear of crime. Contrary to
prior research, there was surprisingly no relationship between viewing crime shows and
perception of races.
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Television consumption, fear of crime, and racial beliefs: Understanding the relationship
between crime television viewing, fear of crime, and perceptions of races.
Fear is an emotion that tends to loom in the mind of the average American citizen. There
are a myriad of fears but according to the National Institute of Mental Health (2014),
approximately 68% of the American population is afraid of death. Within that percentage, 88%
of citizens are worried the death would be crime-related (National Institute of Mental Health,
2014). This suggests that the fear of death, especially through crime, is at the forefront of many
Americans’ minds. Could these fears have germinated from the media? How powerful can the
media be?
Literature Review
It is important to understand the prevalence of media because of its impact on American
viewers. The information presented in the programs, whether through news channels (e.g. Fox,
CNN, MSNBC) or drama series (e.g. CSI, SVU, House of Cards), do not accurately portray real
world statistics. According to Warr (2008) information from the media about crime is often very
out of sync with reality. He found that social awareness of crime has steadily increased over the
past three decades because “people are bombarded with information about crime from the media,
which makes them believe the world is a much more dangerous place than it really is” (Warr,
2008, p. 2). According to the Center for Disease Control (2010), the first leading cause of death
for the United States population under age 44 is unintentional injuries. Even though the public
has an increasing fear of crime, the FBI’s uniform crime reports show a steady decrease in
violent crime rates from 1991 to 2010. In fact, the violent crime rate in 2010 was a 40-year low
(Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2010).
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The pervasive fear of crime has led many scholars to hypothesize about the origins of this
mindset. Many researchers have looked to the mass media as the driving force behind the
increase in this fear. Liska and Baccaglini (1990) conducted a study looking at the relationship
between newspaper crime coverage and the fear of crime, and found that fear was affected most
by homicide stories when compared to any other kind of crime story. They also reported that
while local homicide stories increased fear, non-local homicide stories decreased fear. Sotirovic
(2001) conducted a study to examine the effect of media use patterns on crime-policy
preferences with affective and cognitive processes as mediators. Consistent with Liska and
Baccaglini’s (1990) findings, Sotirovic (2001) also discovered that people who watch the local
news had an increased fear of crime. She also found connections between media use and fear of
crime, and between fear of crime and support for punitive crime policies, which suggests that
mass-mediated information influences personal-level judgments as well. These findings support
the notion that people tend to absorb and internalize the information they are exposed to by the
mass media. As the mass media, specifically television, increasingly infiltrates our lives, we
need a clearer understanding of how much their messages influence us, and what implications
these messages could have on our beliefs on different subject matters. The purpose of this study
is to further explore these issues.
The Effects of Media Framing
There is plenty of evidence that the media has the ability to guide people’s thoughts. One
of the first times the influential power of the media could be seen was when Orson Welles
broadcasted his version of H.G Well’s book “The War of the Worlds” in 1938. Over six million
people heard this national radio broadcast, and a million citizens actually perceived the fictitious
story as reality (Lowry, Nio & Leitner, 2003). Are people too gullible when it comes to media
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news coverage and crime television shows? According to Romer, Jamieson and Aday (2003),
the public overestimates the actuality of crimes; crime statistics provided by law enforcement do
not measure up to the amount of crime reported by the media – annual crime reports indicate that
violent crimes have been decreasing steadily since the 1990’s.
Truman (2005) suggests that a possible explanation for the public’s overestimation of
crime rates is the dramatic fallacy, which refers to the phenomenon that even though smaller
crimes such as robberies or burglaries are far more common, people are more scared of
becoming a victim of a violent crime. However, many other researchers explain the public’s fear
of crime by attributing it to the Agenda Setting Theory. This theory states that the media tells
the public what to think, but not how to think about certain issues (Young, 2013). Numerous
studies have found that the media reports a level of crime that is disproportionate to actual crime
rates. Several studies have also found that news channels feature more crime stories than any
other stories – News directors have accepted that as much as the news media is a business,
fearful news is used frequently to attract viewers (Iyengar & Reeves, 1997). Violent crimes such
as homicides, rapes, and extreme physical assaults seem to receive the most attention in the
media – there is a sort of sensationalism that keeps the audience glued to the television. The
brutal images portrayed on the television screen trigger fear in viewers of becoming a victim of
crime (Altheide, 2003). The media inform individuals about crime while painting a vivid picture
in the audience’s mind, which subconsciously affect them in their daily lives. Overall, it can be
said that the media can be seen as accountable for the heightened fear of crime and can even
create moral panic (Kohm, Waid-Lindberg, Weinrath, Shelley & Dobbs, 2012).
Theoretical Framework
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Gerbner’s cultivation theory (1969) asserts that our perceptions of the world are shaped
by the portrayal of reality on television. Further research led Gerbner to report that heavy-
television viewers are more likely to have magnified perceptions of victimization, mistrust, and
danger, as well as mistaken beliefs about crime and law enforcement than light-television
viewers (Morgan & Shanahan, 2010). As Gerbner’s theory is extremely popular among the mass
communication community, many scholars have further developed his original theory, and recent
findings have suggested that it is genre-specific viewing that affects viewers, as opposed to just
general television viewing. The revised model of the cultivation theory is an extremely fitting
theoretical framework for our study, as we are interested in seeing whether varying television
programs will affect people’s perceptions of various races and fear of crime differently.
Due to the fact that the media, and television in general, are so omnipresent, many
researchers have dedicated their time to studying how it might impact our lives. Cultivation
theory has been applied to many different studies ranging from fears to body image to romantic
ideals. A study conducted by Schiappa, Gregg, and Hewes (2003) suggested that exposure to the
television series Six Feet Under leads to a mild increase in viewers’ general fears of death.
Another study found that crime drama viewing predicted higher perceived risk of sexual violence
in women (Custers & Van den Bulck, 2012). Various studies have been carried out and while
the findings fluctuated between analyses, all signs point to the fact that watching television does
influence people’s perceptions of the world somehow.
Variance across Television Programs
Much research has been conducted to analyze the effects different television programs
have on people’s fear of crime, but the results have varied. Kort-Butler and Hartshorn (2011)
found that nonfictional crime shows were positively related to fear of crime while there were no
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significant relationships between viewing crime dramas, news, and fear of crime. However,
some researchers found significant relationships between fear of crime and those who watch the
local news, crime dramas, and reality crime shows (Callanan, 2012; Eschholz, Chiricos, & Gertz,
2003; Romer, Jamison, & Aday, 2003). Unlike Kort-Butler and Hartshorn (2011), who found
that total television viewing is unrelated to fear, Custers and Van Den Bulck (2011) found a
significant relationship between general television viewing and dispositional fear of crime. Van
Den Bulck (2004) conducted a study comparing three causal explanations for the relationship
between television fiction and fear of crime and found support for the cultivation hypothesis, as
well as results that suggested that television viewing is a better predictor of fear of crime than
personal experience of crime. More research is needed to close the gap between these
conflicting findings.
Television Portrayals of Race and Crime
The correlation between race and crime first became a prevalent topic in the 1900’s and
has since become a widely popular area of study. Media portrayals and representations,
especially in the news, cultivate what some scholars label the “racialization of crime.” This
mindset characterizes and stereotypes minorities, especially Blacks, as criminal figures
(Chiricos, Welch, & Gertz, 2004; Gilliam, Valentino, & Beckmann, 2002; Hurwitz & Peffley,
2005; Peffley & Hurwitz, 2002; Skogan, 1998). Several scholars have noted that the
racialization of crime further escalated during the Civil Rights Movement around mid 1950s to
1960s (Barlow, 1998) and took greater shape in the years to come. According to Chiricos and
Eschholz (2002), media portrayals linking race and criminality (1) frame crime as a Black
phenomenon (2) stereotype African Americans, especially men, as the main source and root of
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criminal behavior. In this perspective, they term the linkage between race and crime in the
media “the racial typification of crime” and “the criminal typification of race,” respectively.
The extended history of racialization of crime in the media can be regarded as a
significant factor in how Americans perceive crime in their surroundings. It proposes the
question: how do crime news reports, crime dramas, crime reality shows, and other media outlets
targeting crime and criminal behavior affect our perceptions of race and crime? Researchers
have found that Americans’ perceptions of crime and race significantly correspond with how
crime and race are portrayed in the media. In one study, researchers found that Americans felt a
greater threat or risk of crime when physically near individuals of racial minorities (St. John &
Heald-Moore, 1996). Another study found that when white and black individuals were asked to
replicate exact behaviors, the black individuals were viewed as more of a threat than their
counterparts (Duncan, 1976; Mastro, Lapinski, Kopacz, & Behm-Morawitz, 2009; Sagar &
Schofield, 1980). Several scholars have found that the racialization of crime in American media
has led to a large majority of Whites’ feelings of prejudice or fear towards Blacks (Hurwitz &
Peffley, 1997; Quillian & Pager, 2001), which debuted a popular theoretical perspective called
the racial threat theory (Blalock, 1967; Liska, 1992).
The Current Study
There seems to be a consensus among scholars that television does influence viewers’
fear of crime in some capacity, but there is not a collective agreement on what programs exert
the most influential power. According to the Parent Television Council (2014), more than 98%
of U.S. homes have at least one television set in 2007. Nielsen (2014) reports that Americans
continue to watch more than five hours of traditional television per day. As television continues
to expand and thrive, it is increasingly important to continue studying its impact on our thoughts
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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and behaviors. Even though there is no shortage of research when it comes to analyzing the
relationships between television viewing, perceptions of race, and fear of crime, the findings
have produced varying results.
Also, the topics of media content and the process for how they are being expressed has
changed over the past five years alone. According to Jurkowitz et al. (2013), the content topics
in the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in journalism can change rapidly within the
course of a few years, as can the structure and process for what content is expressed. New and
various happenings are visually and verbally communicated in popular culture talk shows, news
shows, cooking shows, and crime shows. These different types of shows have shaped and
changed Americans’ perspectives on different racial groups regarding crime, therefore harvesting
different direct and indirect reactions. The media content has shifted from edited and pre-
recorded factual content to that of opinion, debate, and live coverage (Jurkowitz et al., 2013).
Because there are several factors that have either created recent change, or leave certain
questions unanswered, we propose a need for further research regarding media’s relationship to
crime, fear, and race. We need to gather a more accurate, specific understanding of the media’s
affect on people and their perception of crime and different racial groups. We want to focus on
television, as it is a medium that changes in content constantly, and needs to therefore be further
studied. Our current study aims to gain further insight into these relationships, seeking to answer
the following research questions:
RQ1: What are the relationships among watching crime shows and perceptions of various
races?
RQ2: What are the relationships among watching crime shows and fear of crime?
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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Methods
Participants
The data from this survey come from a nationwide probability sample conducted in April
2014. 1,573 non-institutionalized general population adults (18+ year olds) residing in the
United States were surveyed by the GfK Group on behalf of Chapman University. The GfK
Group who administered the survey had their own consent and confidentiality data that were not
readily available to us. The project is housed at the Earl Babbie Research Center located at
Chapman University. The study was conducted on KnowledgePanel, a probability-based web
panel designed to be representative of the United States. Randomly aged eligible adults were
selected, received an email invitation to complete the survey, and were asked to do so at their
earliest convenience. As a standard, email reminders to non-responders were sent on the third
day of the field period.
A total of 1,573 completed surveys were collected; the response rate was 62.9 percent.
The mean age for all participants was 46.86 (SD=17.25). We computed the descriptive statistics
for age, education, race/ethnicity, and region. Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics
of the final sample.
Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of the Participants (N=1573) Characteristic Number Percent
Gender
Female 811 51.6
Male 762 48.4
Age
18-29 331 21.0
30-44 404 25.7
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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45-59 430 27.4
60+ 408 25.9
Education
Less than high school 198 12.6
High school 462 29.4
Some college 456 29.0
Bachelor’s degree or
higher
456 29.0
Race/Ethnicity
White, Non-Hispanic 1046 66.5
Black, Non-Hispanic 183 11.6
Other, Non-Hispanic 97 6.2
Hispanic 227 14.5
2+ Races, Non-Hispanic 20 1.3
Region
Northeast 287 18.2
Midwest 339 21.5
South 584 37.2
West 363 23.1
Measures
People’s perceptions of different events and experiences that may be associated with fear
were measured with a survey developed specifically for the Chapman Survey of American Fears
(Chapman University, 2014). It contained 39 questions measuring people’s personal beliefs and
thoughts on religion, supernatural activity, politics, worries, fears, the environment, etc. For the
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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purposes of this study, we narrowed the questionnaire down to sections solely concerned with
perceptions of various races, fear of crime, and television programs. We computed new
variables for perceptions of race, fear of crime, and crime shows.
Dependent variable: Perceptions of various races. Respondents were asked to rate
their perceptions of various races were on a 100-point feeling thermometer: 0 -50 (not
favorable), 50 degrees (neutral), and 50- 100 degree (favorable, particularly warm) ratings. This
particular variable is comprised of four items: Asians, Blacks, Caucasians/Whites, and
Hispanics, with a reliability coefficient of .88.
Dependent variable: Fear of crime. Fear of crime was measured by asking respondents
to rate their level of fear of being victimized on a four-point scale (very afraid, afraid, somewhat
afraid, and not afraid at all). The variable is comprised of seven items: being mugged, identity
theft/ credit card fraud, being stalked, murder, police brutality, sexual assault, and racial/ hate
crime, with a reliability coefficient of .91.
Independent variable: Television programs. The respondents were asked how often
they watch the following television programs on a five-point scale (very often, often, sometimes,
rarely, and never): shows about actual crimes – such as Dateline NBC, 48 Hours, and America’s
Most Wanted, and shows about fictional crimes – such as Castle, CSI, and Law and Order: SVU.
These two items produced a reliability coefficient of .61.
Results
This study was guided by two questions: (1) What are the relationships among watching
crime shows and perceptions of various races? (2) What are the relationships among watching
crime shows and fear of crime?
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The first research question examines if viewing crime shows influences people’s
perceptions of various races. We began by computing the variable for viewing crime shows
from the questionnaire items asking how often viewers watched shows about actual crimes, and
shows about fictional crimes. We also computed the variable for perceptions of various races
from the questionnaire items asking viewers to rate their views toward ‘Asians’, ‘Blacks’,
‘Caucasians/Whites’, and ‘Hispanics’ on a 100-point feeling thermometer. We then conducted a
correlational analysis and calculated a correlation coefficient between both variables. The
findings proved to be statistically insignificant (p > .01), resulting in a lack of relationship
between viewing crime shows and perception of various races.
The second research question examines if viewing crime shows influences people’s fear
of crime. We used the same variable for viewing crime shows. Fear of crime was measured
with these seven items: being mugged, identity theft/ credit card fraud, being stalked, murder,
police brutality, sexual assault, and racial/ hate crime. We then conducted a correlational
analysis and calculated a correlation coefficient between both variables. The results produced a
statistically significant positive relationship between watching crime shows and fear of crime.
However, it is relatively weak. (r = .15, p < .01). Table 2 displays the correlation matrix between
our variables.
Table 2. Viewing of Crime Shows Correlated to Fear of Crime and Perception of Race. (Viewers: N=1543) Fear of Crime Perception of Race Pearson Correlation .148** -.011
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .678
N 1532 1525
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Discussion
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The primary purpose of this study was to distinguish the relationship between (1) viewing
crime shows and perceptions of different races and (2) viewing crime shows and fear and crime.
Interpretations
Surprisingly, the results of the current study are inconsistent with the research found in
previous studies regarding the relationship between viewing crime shows and perceptions of
races. The results indicate a lack of an overall relationship between viewing crime shows and
perception of various races. One possibility for this finding is the social desirability bias, in
which respondents may have answered in a manner they felt would be viewed favorably by
researchers. Another potential explanation could be that recent television shows have begun
attempting to portray racial equality, utilizing different races for both upstanding and criminal
characters. It may be, then, that viewers are not subjected to as much racialization of crime as
the participants in past studies.
The results of this study are consistent with the research found in previous studies
regarding the relationship between viewing crime shows and fear of crime. The results indicate
that exposure to crime shows is related to viewers’ fear of crime, but the relationship is not as
strong as previous studies suggested. Aday, Jamison, and Romer (2003), Callanan (2012), and
Chiricos, Eschholz, and Gertz (2003) all found significant relationships between fear of crime
and those who watch the local news, crime dramas, and reality crime shows. A possibility for
the weak relationship found in our study is that the measure of viewing crime shows may have
been flawed. Participants were asked how often they watched shows about actual crimes and
shows about fictional crimes, but there were no questions accounting for viewers’ exposure to
the news. Previous studies have placed more emphasis on the relationship between news
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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watching and fear of crime, and have found substantial evidence of a positive relationship
between the two variables.
Strengths
The Chapman Survey of American Fears is the first comprehensive nationwide study
conducted on what strikes fear in Americans. The results support the argument that television is
far-reaching in its influential power. This study is the first of what will be an annual evaluation
of what people fear, leaving room for the study to improve and grow, as well as to capture
changes in people’s fears and attitudes with each passing year.
Limitations
There were a few limitations with this current study. One of the important limitations is
the lack of measure on other types of media prevalent in American culture today. In future
studies, the researchers could gain a more comprehensive understanding by analyzing other
forms of media, including social media, film, news, print, and the internet. Another limitation is
that the measure used to assess respondents’ perceptions of races was relatively generic and
limited. An updated survey should be expanded in future studies to develop a more accurate
evaluation of people’s perceptions. Future measures could include Likert scales determining
how much respondents agree with different statements about varying racial groups, as well as the
perceived likelihood of different races committing crimes, based on our existing 7-item scale
measuring fear of crime.
Implications
The findings of this project reveal a few implications. Our results indicate that viewing
crime shows does have some influence over viewers’ fear of crime. Thus, studio heads and
showrunners should be more diligent about what they produce, as they have the ability to shape
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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people’s perceptions and views of the world. Future studies should also focus on and develop
stronger measurements for people’s perceptions of various races. Although there was a lack of a
relationship between viewing crime shows and perceptions of race, the positive relationship
between viewing crime shows and fear of crime suggest that people’s beliefs and attitudes are
somewhat influenced by viewing television. Racism is an important issue in today’s society,
especially in light of the recent cases of unarmed Black men being shot to death by uniformed
men. The media encourages the exposure of racially charged crime stories (Balkaran, 1999), as
there is day-to-day coverage of racial events. The perceptions of racial groups, due to the media
coverage, are therefore very negative (Balkaran, 1999). Whether television simply reflects
certain perceptions or encourages them, the media is clearly a very prominent facet of our lives
that cannot be ignored. Our perception of the world around us is shaped by personal
experiences, as well as the mass-mediated information we are exposed to.
Real World Solutions
We propose a number of real-world solutions to target the issues raised by this study.
People can create a website, much like Jezebel, focused specifically on subjects/media content
involving crime, media, and race. This blog should aim to educate people on different racial and
criminal issues, as well as the validity of the media and their content. This website could involve
articles that look at current events – examining both news coverage and popular culture topics
such as celebrity/entertainment news, music, art, and even crime shows. This would reach out to
the ever-growing population of individuals who look to the Internet as their main source of
information. Another real-world solution could be to hold group panel discussions at different
colleges and universities on the subject of racism, Americans’ false perception of crime rates,
and the media’s impact on these perceptions. Different corporate companies (e.g. Starbucks,
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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ESPN, etc…) could also partner up with different groups that promote anti-racism and start
different social media campaigns to tackle the issue. Most importantly, we need to understand
the history of racism and educate ourselves on how we can progress. It begins with individuals
and then we can look to institutions – schools, churches, businesses, non-profit organizations,
etc. to create a culture of equality and diversity. Researchers should focus on promoting racial
equality in schools – the foundation of learning and an important institution in the United States.
School is where many thoughts and beliefs begin to form, and education can truly progress the
change that we seek.
Future Directions
Future research should work to better incorporate different forms of media, more
extensive measures for perception of race, and include some measures concerning people’s trust
in the media. In regards to this specific survey instrument, more in-depth questions regarding the
media content, specifically, crime shows, should be included. Potential additions to the study
would be questions that focus more on the news and include questions pertaining to both local
and national news. If there were questions that addressed the news and people’s assessment of
how accurate their information is, that would potentially alter the correlations between each
variable. With the advent of new media and its increasing significance in our lives, it is of vital
importance to study their potential impacts on viewers and their perceptions of the world.
TELEVISION CONSUMPTION, FEAR OF CRIME, AND RACIAL BELIEFS
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