What evidence is there to support the view that the public's fear of crime is shaped by news media reporting?

Western society is fascinated with crime and justice. From films, books, newspapers, magazines, television broadcasts, to everyday conversations, we are constantly engaging in crime "talk". The mass media play an important role in the construction of criminality and public knowledge about crime as Surette's research (1996) reveals. However, does coverage of sensationalistic and violent crime also create fear among the general public? I shall argue that the media play a substantial role in determining the amount …showed first 75 words of 3373 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3373 total…Critical Victimology: The Victim in International Perspective, London: Sage McCombs, M. and Shaw, D. (1972), The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media, Public Opinion Quarterly, 36 (Summer), pp176-187 Pfau, M. (1995), Covering Urban Unrest: The Headline Says it All, Journal of Urban Affairs, JUAFEM, pp131-41 Surette, R. (1998), Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Images and Realities 2nd Edition, New York: Wadsworth Publishing. Zedner, L. (1997), Victims in Maguire, M. et al. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Oxford: Clarendon Press