NCJ Number
83462
Journal
Public Opinion Quarterly Volume: 45 Issue: 4 Dated: (1981) Pages: 492-506
Date Published
1981
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The relationship of crime news reporting in newspapers and television to actual crime patterns and to public images of crime was examined by gathering data from the New Orleans police, media, and public concerning crime in New Orleans for a 3-month period during 1978.
Abstract
Previous research has indicated that official crime rates and crime news coverage are unrelated. In addition, the public's conception of crime tends to reflect the picture of crime presented in the newspapers. Little attention has focused on the portrayal of crime on television, although a large proportion of the public relies on television as its primary source of news. The present research compared the images of New Orleans crime reflected in the newspapers, television, police reports, and public opinion. The presentations of crime trends for the seven major Index crimes, of the relative frequency of occurrence of these offenses, and of the characteristics of offenders were examined. Murders and robberies accounted for about 80 percent of the crimes reported on television and 45 percent of the crime reported in print. However, the police department reported that only 12.4 percent of the city's crimes were homicides and robberies. The public view of the prevalence of violent crimes differed considerably from the police statistics, but was more realistic than the television portrayal. Public, media, and police images of offenders' race and sex were similar. It was concluded that media reporting on crime patterns bears little resemblance to the reality of police statistics. Television and newspapers are not as similar in their crime coverage as might be expected. The public image of crime patterns is similar to that portrayed by newspapers, but concerns regarding crime increases are at variance with the factual data. Additional findings and conclusions, tables, and a list of 20 references are provided.