Fear of crime and the media: Assessing the lack of relationship

Abstract

A review of available international evidence indicates that crime features regularly in the media. New data shows that this is also true for Trinidad. Elsewhere, it has been shown that newspaper crime news concentrates heavily on infrequently occurring crimes involving sex and/or violence. Crime news on television and radio has not been subject to as much scrutiny, although it has been shown that televised crime drama is noticeably violent. Data from a representative sample of Trinidadian respondents (n = 705) undertaken in 2000 indicate no relationship between media consumption and fear of crime.