To serve us our nightly dose of murder and mayhem, it's become downright comical how far TV newscasters will go nowadays.
    On a recent six-o'clock segment, the announcer-speaking with textbook gravity-led off by telling viewers about a convenience store clerk who was shot and killed during a hold-up. Police had no suspect for the killer of this 27-year-old single-parent mother who worked two jobs.
    The punch line to this otherwise senseless tragedy? The crime occurred at 11 p.m. the night before the newscast, seven counties away-a distance of 140 miles-roughly 80 miles beyond the TV station's coverage area.
    "If it bleeds, it leads" continues to be broadcast journalism's holy mantra, much to the dismay of media-watch organizations who've made "media-bashing" something of a national sport. Unfounded or not, some of the loudest criticisms of how TV news shows handle crime are emerging today in the face of unprecedented research on the topic.
    A survey done last year by Rocky Mountain Media Watch, for example, studied the crime-news content of 100 newscasts in 56 cities and found that, on average, a whopping 30 percent of these shows' air time is routinely devoted to crime reporting.
    Viewers believe what they're seeing, too. The Rocky Mountain study came on the heels of a Harris poll conducted by The Center for Media and Public Affairs that showed that local TV newscasts not only are Americans' number-one source of news, but viewers think they're more accurate and credible than national TV news, local newspapers or any other source, the poll found.
    TV stations are merely feeding us a steady diet of crime news because that's what we want, broadcasters allege. So what's wrong with that?
    Possibly a lot. In Florida, for example, citizens may be suffering from an abnormal fear of crime in their communities, thanks largely to nightly barrages of crime reporting that too often reflect a willingness by broadcasters to go to any lengths necessary to find sensational acts of violence and lawlessness to put on the air.
New findings by FSU criminologist Dr. Ted Chiricos (Ph.D. Massachusetts), a nationally-recognized expert on the fear of crime, support his conclusion that Floridians are worrying more about crime even though the state's crime rate is on the decline and has been for years.
    "We're not saying that Floridians are irrationally worrying about crime, because Florida still has one of the highest crime rates in the country," says Chiricos. "But the fact is, fear of crime in Florida has increased year to year when statistics show crime has actually gone down. So, there's an apparent disconnect between actual trends in crime and public perceptions of it."
    First in 1996 and again last year, Chiricos-along with colleague Dr. Marc Gertz and doctoral students Ranee McEntire and Rhonda Dobbs-directed the largest surveys of public attitudes on crime ever conducted in Florida. The 1997 study synthesized the opinions of 4,500 residents on their perceptions about law enforcement, juvenile crime and justice and the prevalence of crime in their communities. Those surveyed also were quizzed about how often they watched local newscasts. The studies were funded primarily by the Florida Department of Community Affairs with other support from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, and FSU's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
    Crime rates in the Sunshine State have in fact been on a six-year decline-and are the lowest in a decade-but Floridians' fear of crime has gone in the opposite direction, Chiricos found.
    While both surveys showed widespread satisfaction with police protection in Florida and support for less punitive measures in dealing with juvenile offenders, Chiricos said the surveys indicate an important link between the fear of crime and exposure to media coverage of crime. The research also shows an apparent relationship between those who favor harsh penalties for juveniles and frequency of viewing local television news.
    The fact that crime is decreasing in Florida may be a surprise to many, but statistics are on the books to prove it, says Chiricos. Numbers compiled by the FBI and the overall rate of serious crimes-which include murder, aggravated assault, forcible rape, robbery, burglary, larceny, and auto theft-has show a steady decline since 1991.
    While one or two of these crime components may increase in any given period (for example, a big jump in domestic violence statewide was reported this spring) the index as a whole declined in Florida during the two-year survey.
    The study shows an interesting relationship between peoples' TV-watching habits and their fear of crime.
"People who watch more televised local news are more fearful but total TV watching is unrelated to fear," asserts Chiricos. "Seeing local television news seven or more times a week is a fear trigger. People who watch with that kind of frequency are twice as fearful as those who don't watch local news at all."
    The survey coincides with a less detailed, national Gallup poll which asked Americans if they viewed crime as a major societal problem. After languishing in the three to six percent range for two decades, the numbers quietly crept up in the early nineties. A dramatic increase from nine percent in 1993 to 54 percent one year later paralleled a 400 percent increase in television coverage of crime.
    Chiricos has written extensively on media-driven "panics" about violent crime, even in the face of declining crime rates, and the subsequent effects on society. His most recent survey also shows:

        -Support for harsher measures by television news watchers to combat juvenile crime.

        -Fear of crime varies from city to city with the demographic composition of those surveyed a major factor.

        -Concern about crime nationally is higher among Floridians than the national average that is reflected in the Gallup survey.

        -Less surprisingly, crime victims or family members of crime victims expressed more fear of crime.

    Survey respondents were asked to rate on a scale of one to 10, with one being not at all fearful and 10 being very fearful, how much they would fear any of six crimes: being murdered, being sexually assaulted, being robbed or mugged, having one's home broken into while there, having the home broken into while away, and a stolen automobile.
    Respondents were profiled according to gender, race, age, income, city, total hours watching television, times watching local television news and the perceived credibility of television crime news.
    One of the most illuminating portions of the survey shows that total hours watching television had virtually no correlation with having a high fear of crime. The percentage of respondents watching television from zero to six hours a week and having a high fear of crime was 16.9 percent compared with 16.8 percent for those watching 22 or more hours per week.
    When specifically asked about local television news, the results were vastly different. High fear nearly doubled-from 9.7 percent to 18.7 percent-from those who never watched local news to those who watched seven or more times.
    The perceived credibility of television news significantly affected the survey outcome. Of those who believed television crime news is underestimated or accurate, 18.9 percent had a high fear of crime. This compares with 15.9 percent for those who think television crime news is exaggerated a little and 14.2 percent for those who perceive a lot of exaggeration.
    Those who viewed television news with the most frequency also were more apt to list crime as Florida's most important problem. More than 43 percent of respondents watching television news seven or more times a week rated crime as Florida's most important problem compared with 32.6 percent of those who never watched local television news.
    On juvenile crime, the survey reflects a trending toward more rehabilitative measures than punitive ones. Measures receiving the highest support and their percentages were: more jobs, 83.4; programs for pregnant teens, 82.8; role model programs, 81; and prevention programs, 75.2. The harshest measures drew the least support-locking up more juveniles, 46.6, and the death penalty, 37.0.
    A breakdown by income demographics shows the highest income group-above $50,000-less willing to support any of the measures than the less than $30,000 and $30,000-$50,000 groups. All three categories, however, showed year-to-year decreases in support for the harsh measures and increased support for the others. For example, the study indicates:

        -A decrease in support for locking up juveniles among the total sample from 53.7 percent in 1996 to 46.6 percent in 1997.

        -A decrease in support for the death penalty from 47.4 percent to 37.0 percent.

        -An increase in support for more jobs to be made available for young people, from 74.0 percent to 83.4 percent.

        -An increase from 60.0 percent to 64.4 percent in support for letting kids stay late after school.

    Television viewing of local news also appeared to have influenced attitudes about what to do about juvenile crime. Most frequent watchers advocated locking up more juveniles and better curfew laws. Those who never watched television news supported the two measures to a significantly lesser extent.
    Floridians also apparently feel safer in their homes and neighborhoods than the average citizen. Only 5.1 percent considered themselves unsafe at home and 13 percent felt imperiled in their neighborhood, according to the Chiricos-led 1997 survey. The 1996 nationwide Gallup survey showed a dramatic difference with the respective figures being 16 percent and 29 percent.
    The "feeling safe" portion of the Florida survey also reflected significant differences by gender and ethnicity. Hispanic women felt the most afraid with the percentages for home and neighborhood 18.6 and 43.1 respectively. The percentages for white females were 4.8 and 13.0 and for blacks, the figures were 10.6 and 18.6.
    Only 1.7 percent of white males felt unsafe at home compared with 2.5 percent for black males and 7.4 percent for Hispanic males. Asked about their neighborhood, six percent of white males said they felt unsafe compared with 6.4 percent for black males and 25.6 percent for Hispanic males.
    Respondents were asked about their perceptions of the level of law enforcement. Those more satisfied with police protection were whites and Hispanic males; those less satisfied were blacks and Hispanic females.
Those in cities with populations of higher than 250,000 were less apt to be satisfied with police protection (70.2 percent) than those in small towns of less than 20,000 (81.2 percent).
    Other survey results regarding police perception:

        -Victims were less likely to be satisfied than non-victims, 66.3 percent to 80.1 percent.

        -More whites and Hispanic males were likely to agree that "police treat everyone the same;" blacks and Hispanic females were far less likely to do so. The most agreement was expressed by Hispanic males at 62.8 percent while black males voiced the least agreement at 37.3 percent.

        -More satisfaction with police was expressed by people with low crime fear (85.8 percent) compared with those with medium fear (76.0 percent) and high fear (65 percent.

    The survey showed respondents generally satisfied with police protection but again, there were significant differences among those with varying degrees of crime fear. In the low fear category, 85.8 percent expressed satisfaction with police compared with 76 percent of those with medium fear and 65 percent of those with high fear of crime.
    Another part of the survey, which asked respondents if they were very concerned or not concerned about various crimes, again showed a correlation with television news viewing. Of the most frequent viewers, 81.8 percent were highly concerned with violent crime if Florida. In those who never watched, 71.2 percent expressed high concern.
    The gap widened to 63.9 percent and 80.9 percent when respondents were asked about crime in general (violent and non-violent) in Florida. There was a much narrower difference between non-viewers and frequent viewers when expressing high concern for neighborhood crime. percentages were 46.2 for non-viewers and 48.6 for those watching television news seven or more times a week.
    Other high fear findings in terms of demographics:

        -High fear of crime decreased by income. Those earning less than $15,000 had 27 percent; $15,000-$30,000, 19 percent; $30,000-$50,000, 14.9 percent; $50,000-$75,000, 12.3 percent; and more than $75,000, 11.8 percent.

        -The city showing the greatest percentage of crime fear was Hialeah with 43.3 while Ft. Myers was lowest with 9.3. Hialeah has a high Hispanic population ; Ft. Myers has many retirees. Interestingly, Hialeah experienced the largest year-to-year decrease, 8.6 percent, from 1996 to 1997.

        -Experience as a victim or family member of a victim was a high fear factor with non-victims indicating 14.1 percent and 16.0 percent in 1996 and 1997 compared with 18.7 percent and 21 percent for victims and relatives of victims.

    In addition to conducting a third survey this year, Chiricos will conduct another 1998 survey, in cooperation with the Collins Center and the Poynter Institute, with an intriguing media/crime perception wrinkle. An Orlando television station recently changed its news programming to devote a smaller percentage to crime coverage. The separate, new survey will compare attitudes of that station-s viewers with others who see local news on other Orlando-area stations.
    Meanwhile, dropping crime rates in Florida may be bottoming out, say researchers, with a new crime wave on the horizon. The consensus among criminologists and students of public policy is that the decrease in crime over the past decade is linked to the fact the percentage of young males in the general population decreased. Chiricos notes that the "baby boom echo," the children of baby boomers, will shortly enter their crime-prone years.
    With the country's demographics about to change, Chiricos says there is a strong possibility that as actual crime reverses its downward trend, fear and reality will more closely coincide.
    For more on that, stay tuned.

TV Time and Fear of Crime