Fear of Crime as Affected by News/Entertainment Media

Student Illustrator: Abegail Tunguia

Student Author: Seth Hagler

This paper compares two research articles, one by Valerie Callanan and a second by Lisa Kort-Butler and Kelley Hartshorn, in trying to understand the fear of crime in the United States and how it is exacerbated by the news and entertainment (or infotainment) media. The fear of crime instilled through television news broadcasting can affect across identities and statuses. The lens, through which crime is portrayed through various mediums, distorts reality and does less to inform than it does to exploit fear.  Violent crime, if it must continue to occur as a seemingly-inevitable characteristic of society, should at the very least be free of bias regarding race, ethnicity, gender, and the like, and reported with as neutral a stance as possible in order to achieve that ideal. Both sets of research are aware of issues with news (reporting) or mass media as an institution.

This is part of the Annual Poster Session, a collaboration between the Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice Department and the Media Arts and Technologies Department, featuring work by social science and illustration students.