What You See is What You Get? A Mixed-Method Exposé on the Effects of Media Consumption on Attitudes about Crime

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

Much of current understanding about the effects of media consumption on attitudes about crime comes from survey research and, to a lesser extent, experimental designs. Media consumption has been linked to fear of crime, perceptions of the justice system, and punitive attitudes, although the evidence remains equivocal. Differences in samples, operationalization, and research design explain part of this inconsistency. Studies that rely on survey data have another potential flaw, seldom addressed by researchers: what is in the news when the survey is in the field may subtly bias responses.

Using survey data from five different years, we examined the relationship between media consumption, worry about crime, anger about crime, perceptions of the crime rate, and punitiveness. We supplemented these analyses with a qualitative examination of top national and local crime-related news stories that appeared when surveys were in the field. Preliminary analyses suggest that the “media effect” is more potent in years when high-profile cases were in the news cycles. Results suggest that in order to tell a fuller story about the effects of media on beliefs about crime and justice, researchers should consider a mixed-methods approach that places surveys into social context.

Authors

• Lisa A Kort-Butler, University of Nebraska Lincoln

• Colleen Ray, University of Nebraska - Lincoln