Crime Cultivation: Comparisons Across Media Genres and Channels

Abstract This study tests the idea that TV genres (crime drama, reality cop shows, news) and channels (TV and newspapers) vary in their potential to cultivate perceptions, fears, and behavior related to exposure and attention to crime content. Randomly selected adults (505) over the age of 18 in Indiana were interviewed. Regression analyses indicate significant variance across media genres and channels in their influence on viewer orientations to crime. Yet overall, media use is a relatively weak predictor of crime orientations. This study was conducted with grant support from the School of Journalism at Indiana University. Notes This study was conducted with grant support from the School of Journalism at Indiana University. aVariables represent scores on a 4-point scale. The higher the mean, the less likely the estimate of victimization or the lower the rating of effectiveness orsupport. a n = 502. b n = 504. c n = 497. d n = 493. e n = 486. f n = 490. g n = 495. +Approaching significance at p < .055–.099 +Approaching significance at p < .055–.099. Personal victimization versus living in high-crime neighborhoods versus being demographically associated with a high victimization rate (FBI statistics) versus being demographically associated with a high victimization rate according to media content, presents inconsistency in hypotheses, findings, and interpretations of existing research. For a discussion of the differences among these variables as they apply to cultivation research see CitationChiricos et al. (1997). For summaries of findings related to noncrime cultivation, see CitationHawkins and Pingree (1982); CitationMorgan and Shanahan (1997); and CitationOgles (1987). Although many cultivation studies have measured fear through estimates of likelihood to become a victim of crime, CitationFerraro (1995) argued that these assessments of risk are distinct from the effect of fear. CitationChiricos et al. (1997) used 10-point scales with items asking directly how safe respondents felt in a number of circumstances. Yet, CitationFerraro (1995) did state that estimates of victimization are strong predictors of the effect of fear. Both are represented in Figure 1. Overall, the body of literature on the relation, if any, between first-order and second-order estimates is inconclusive. CitationPotter (1991), for example, did find an asymmetrical relation between some first- and second-order beliefs. CitationShrum (2004) argued that the main difference between these judgments is that first-order estimates are mostly "set-size or probability" based whereas second-order estimates are based on attitudes and beliefs. The construction of these two orders of estimates varies in several ways, including information processing dimensions. For a discussion see CitationShrum (2004). Focusing on views of social equality, not crime, Armstrong, Neuendorf, and CitationBrentar (1992) found variance across TV genres. News viewing is associated with perceptions of African Americans as socioeconomically worse off than Caucasians, whereas TV fiction viewing is correlated with views of greater social equality. One study provides evidence that there is potential for different cultivation outcomes within one channel. Newspapers in the Netherlands cultivate varying views among readers about how threatening people belonging to ethnic minority groups are (CitationVergeer, Lubbers, CitationGilliam CitationGomes & Williams, 1990). This is a suppressor effect. According to CitationThompson (1993) it stands as a reminder that the combined effects of variables in regression analyses constitute more than the sum of their constituent parts. In this regard, CitationShrum's (2001) experimental work on information processing strategies is helpful. A heuristic processing strategy (as opposed to more critical systematic processing) was found to be more conducive to the cultivation process. In this case, though, both attentive and less attentive viewing produced significant but directionally opposite correlations in a model that significantly predicted two dependent variables. Exposure measures used in cultivation surveys are less rigorous than those used in experimental investigations of cultivation. Surveys typically use one exposure measure, asking how many days in a typical week (or last week) a respondent consumed media content. In experiments like CitationShrum's (2001), participants were asked to estimate the number of hours they watch TV in four specific weekday parts, and on weekends. This was used to compute a weekly exposure measure and correlated with another, where participants were asked to estimate their weekly viewing of 10 program categories.