Abstract
This study examines local web search data as a window into residents’ information needs surrounding the issue of urban crime. Media system dependency theory is used to explain the dynamic, interdependent relationships between changes in the local crime rate (i.e., the social system), news coverage of crime (i.e., the media system), and residents’ (i.e., the audience’s) online searches for crime-related information. It was hypothesized that crime rates and news coverage of crime would increase residents’ information needs, motivating residents to go online to search for crime-related information to cope with an increased sense of uncertainty. The responsiveness of local newspapers to residents’ dynamic information needs was also evaluated. In an initial study in Minneapolis, Minnesota, violent crime and newspaper coverage of crime did predict online searches for crime-related information. But news coverage did not predict searches for crime-related information in a follow-up study in St. Louis, Missouri. Coverage in neither city’s newspapers was responsive to changes in aggregate crime-related online searches. Reasons for differences between the two cities are discussed, as are theoretical implications for future efforts to assess what local residents’ information needs are and to evaluate whether they are being met.
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