Citation

O'Connell M, Invernizzi F, Fuller R. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 1998; 3(1): 29-57.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.2044-8333.1998.tb00350.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Objectives. To examine the degree of association between newspaper readership and perception of crime and whether a causal relationship favouring a top-down model (i.e. media shapes public opinion) of media-audience interaction found support rather than a bottom-up model (i.e. media responds to public opinion).Methods. The study involved the triangulation of three methods. Study 1 was a quantitative analysis of 2000 newspaper articles involving crime. Study 2 was a number of semi-structured interviews with newspaper crime correspondents. Study 3 was a two-part experimental investigation of the causal model.Results. Study 1 demonstrated a correspondence between misperception of crime and key quantitative measures of crime presentation in four newspapers. Study 2 found a correspondence between the newspaper values of crime journalists and the views of their readers. The experimental work in Study 3 did not demonstrate one-off presentation effects as predicted by a simple top-down model.Conclusions. There appeared to be evidence confirming an association between readers' views and the presentation of crime in their newspapers. However, the results of the experimental study do not permit an exclusive top-down interpretation of this association.

Language: en