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30 Canadian J. Criminology 3 (1988)
News Media Use and Public Perceptions of Crime Seriousness

handle is hein.journals/cjccj30 and id is 7 raw text is: News Media Use and Public Perceptions of Crime Seriousness1 ROBERT J. GEBOTYS DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY JULIAN V. ROBERTS DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, CANADA AND BIKRAM DAsGUPTA DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY Deux enqu~tes d'opinion publique ont examin6 la relation entre l'utilisation des m6dias et le sentiment de la gravit6 de la criminalitd. Les r6pondants ont d~clar6 dans quelle mesure ils 6taient renseign6s par les m6dias d'information et ont cot6 la gravit6 de neuf infractions fr~quentes. I1 a aussi dt6 posd des questions se rattachant A des variables d6mographiques et au fait d'avoir 6 victime ou non d'un crime. I1 s'est d6gag6 une relation sensiblement positive entre m6dias et sentiment de la gravit6 de la criminalit6. De hauts scores d'dcoute des informations t616visdes s'assortissaient de notes de gravitd 6lev6es. Ce r6sultat cadre avec de r6cents travaux selon lesquels les nouvelles de crimes des m~dias exercent un effet certain: en mettant l'accent sur des crimes fort graves, les m6dias semblent influer sur le sentiment de la gravit6 d'autres infractions moins graves et non connexes. Par contraste avec des recherches pr6c6dentes, le sentiment de la gravit6 de la criminalit6 se ressen- tait sensiblement du sexe du r6pondant et du fait qu'il avait 6t6 rcemment victime ou non d'un crime. Les femmes et les personnes qui n'avaient pas 6t6 victimes d'un crime au cours de l'ann6e pr6c6dente estimaient la criminalit6 plus grave que les hommes et que les victimes r6centes. Ces constatations sont examin6es A la lumire d'autres recherches qui d~montrent l'influence qu'exer- cent les m6dias d'information sur ce que pense le public de la criminalit6 et du chAtiment. Two public opinion surveys examined the relationship between media use and perceptions of crime seriousness. Respondents indicated how frequently they attended to the news media and rated the seriousness of nine common offences. There were also questions dealing with demographic variables and experiences with victimization. A significant positive relationship emerged between media use and perceptions of crime seriousness. High scores on television news viewing were associated with high seriousness ratings. This result is consistent with recent work suggesting that media presentations of crime have an anchoring effect: by emphasizing high serious crimes such as homocide, the news media appear to affect perceptions of the seriousness of other, less serious and unrelated offences. In contrast to earlier research,

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