Trial by Media?: Media Use, Fear of Crime, and Attitudes Toward Police

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examined the cultivation effects of local news media use on Chicago residents’ fear of crime and attitudes toward police. Chicago, IL was chosen because of the city's struggles with gang violence and with police misconduct, both which have been covered extensively by local news media. Controlling for individual level variables, including previous crime victimization and neighborhood level contexts, a survey of Chicago residents found support for local news’ cultivation of residents’ fear of crime, particularly by radio and TV. It is suggested that the brief and sensationalistic formats used by news media to report crime stoke residents’ fear of crime. Local media also have positive effects on local residents’ general attitudes toward police. Regarding a widely publicized incident of police misconduct, this study found that race moderated residents’ attitudes toward the White police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Black teenager. The results showed that media shaped negative perceptions of the police only for the non-Caucasians (mostly African Americans) surveyed. It was found that fear of crime only mediated the effects of media on attitudes toward police when the specific event involved an incident of police misconduct, although the effects were minimal.