CRIME, NEWS AND FEAR OF CRIME - TOWARD AN IDENTIFICATION OF AUDIENCE EFFECTS

Communication studies increasingly recognize the audience's critical r ole in receiving and interpreting media messages. Research into audien ce attributes that distinguish ''media effects,'' on the fear of crime (FEAR) has been limited-particularly as it relates to the reception o f news. This study is based an a survey of 2,092 adults in Tallahassee , Florida at the height of a media driven ''panic'' about violent crim e. Controlling far age, gender, race, victim experience and other perc eptions of crime, the frequency of watching television news and listen ing to news on the radio is significantly related to FEAR. Reading new spapers and newsmagazines and recall of detail concerning specific hig hly publicized violent crimes are unrelated to FEAR. When audiences ar e disaggregated by gender, race, and a series of third attributes, tel evision news consumption is significantly related to FEAR only for whi te females between the ages of thirty and fifty-four. This finding hol ds regardless of victim experience, income or perceived safety. Severa l explanations derived from previous research are applied to this find ing. Both ''resonance'' and ''substitution'' have possible explanatory relevance, but the ''affinity'' of audience members with victims mast often seen on television news may best account for the concentration of ''media effects'' among white women.