The credibility of newspapers and fear of crime

It was hypothesized that the effect of a fear-arousing newspaper article ab out crime on fear of crime and concern about crime as a societal problem is dependent on source (newspaper) credibility. In an experimental study, par ticipants were presented with an article on street robberies, ostensibly pu blished in a more credible newspaper or in a less credible newspaper, where as a control group did not read any article. As predicted, it was found tha t the article's effect on fear of robbery, fear of crime in general, and co ncern about robbery as a societal problem was fully dependent on source cre dibility. Further, women reported more fear of robbery and fear of crime in general than did men.