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Abstract

The present study, using a Portuguese sample, is aimed at understanding how the media shapes the fear of crime experiences. Concretely, we explored how individuals interpret the content transmitted by the media and how these perceptions influence the fear of crime contextually situated. It was also our aim to explore if the area of residence (rural and urban), as well as certain sociodemographic characteristics (such as gender), were important in the way meanings are attributed to the media in experiences of insecurity. In total, 20 semi-structured interviews were undertaken (n = 12 women; 13 from rural areas and 7 from urban areas). Among the relevant results found in the present study, one of the conclusions we can highlight is that it is not possible to establish a clear relationship between media consumption and insecurity feelings. Indeed, media do not totally shape the fear of crime experiences, as a panoply of meanings has emerged, which makes their influence differential. Thus, aspects such as the sensationalism, the location of the reported crime, the realism of the news and the proximity to the event are examples of factors that emerged with great relevance in this investigation. In short, this study allowed the authors to reach a depth and diversity of meanings of insecurity, through several approaches that were the basis for their understanding and confirms the relevance of studying this theme from experiences and discourses using qualitative research.

Keywords

fear of crime qualitative approach interviews meanings experiences

Introduction

We have seen a huge spread of information about crime in the news, such as on social networks, blogs or other sources, appearing either in the form of text or images (Srinivasa & Thilagam, 2019). On television, for example, there are two main reasons why crime is increasingly prevalent: first, crime is linked to fear, a basic element of the entertainment format; and, second, crime and violence are clearly easy topics to cover (Soola, 2007), and are faster, cheaper and more efficient topics for television stations (Altheide, 2003). Fear of crime, broadly defined, is a multidimensional phenomenon that includes emotional, cognitive and behavioral manifestations to crime or symbols associated with crime (e.g., Gabriel & Greve, 2003). There have been diverse explanations to address why certain groups or places fear more than others. These explanations are nested into individual (such as sex or gender), contextual (for instance, lack of street lighting or simply darkness) and social models (such as collective efficacy). Among them, previous literature has focused on the relationship between fear of crime and the media, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies (Cashmore, 2014; Chadee, 2001; Chadee & Ditton, 2005). In 2004, after a review on the linkage between fear of crime and the media (newspaper and television consumption), Ditton and colleagues found that 41% of the studies found a positive relationship between those variables, but 59% did not. Later, Chadee and Ditton (2005) focusing on Trinidad, stated that that “the results clearly indicate that there is no relationship between fear of crime and the media” (p. 329).

Nevertheless, according to some authors, such as Leal (2010, p. 397), the mass media “have become a powerful vehicle for transmitting messages essential to the cohesion of individuals and the structuring of their own identity”. Thus, if the media play an informative and entertainment role, and if part of its agenda is made up of crime-related news and content, it may be relevant to understand, through qualitative methodologies, how these messages are received and interpreted and what role they will play in the fear of crime. Therefore, in the present study, qualitative in nature, we used semi-structured interviews looking to explore these meanings in order to understand how the place where individuals live (rural or urban) and the relationships they establish in this context influence their perception of the media and the role of news in the fear of crime.

Specifically, in the first place, (a) this study aims to analyze the consumption habits of media and social media, namely the type of sources and content most consumed. In other words, it aims to explore the perceptions about the role that the media plays in society and about the way news are transmitted, as well as the factors that influence these meanings; (b) secondly, this study explores the consequences of the consumption of media in the fear of crime (in its different manifestations); (c) thirdly, it is intended to investigate what meanings are attributed to (in) security and the way in which it is perceived and experienced from the physical, social and fear contexts; and finally, (d) it seeks to explore the role that direct and indirect victimization experiences have in the fear of crime.

Regarding the structure through which this article will be developed, firstly the crucial concepts for exploring the theme will be defined, followed by the main prominent theories of literature, with some later considerations about the fear of crime, and further on, about the media. Next, the methodology of the present study will be described in detail. To conclude, the main results will be presented and discussed, ending with a reflection and implications of the study.

Theoretical Background

Definition of Fear of Crime

The scientific community has been following two different understandings when referring to the concept of fear of crime (Vandeviver, 2011). One the one hand, fear of crime is conceived in a restricted way, corresponding to the emotional dimension to crime or symbols associated with it (e.g., Ferraro & LaGrange, 1987). Other authors (e.g., Gabriel & Greve, 2003; Madriz, 1997) interpret fear of crime as a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing three different components: the emotional one (fear of crime in the strict sense), the cognitive (perceived risk of victimization) and the behavioral dimension (avoidance, protective and self-defense behaviors).

Fear of crime is narrowly defined as “an emotional response of dread or anxiety to crime or to symbols that a person associates with crime” (Ferraro 1995, p. 4). This dimension is different from a perception of the environment (Warr, 2000) and includes a set of various emotions towards the possibility of victimization (fear, worry and anxiety) (Jackson & Gouseti, 2012). In turn, the perceived risk of victimization is an assessment of personal threat or the perceived likelihood of being victimized. Therefore, individuals make estimates or judgements about the possibility of victimization (Ferraro & LaGrange, 1987). We argue that there is a symbiotic relationship between fear and perceived risk: while fear of crime is influenced by risk judgments, fear also affects such judgment. For that reason, several authors have pointed out that both components must be analyzed simultaneously in the same studies (Rader, 2004; Rader et al., 2007). Nevertheless, as a negative emotional reaction generated by crime or its associated symbols, fear is conceptually distinct from judgments (risks) or concerns (values) about crime (Ferraro & LaGrange, 1987). Furthermore, even as a result of cognitive processing, fear per se is not a belief, attitude or assessment. On the contrary, it is a feeling of alarm at the perception or expectation of danger (Warr, 2000). Indeed, there are at least two likely reactions when people believe that crime is a problem. Naturally, one reaction is fear, and another is restrictive behavior - which implies adjustments to routine activities, apparently to reduce this same risk (Ferraro, 1996; Miethe, 1995). The behavioral dimension of fear manifests in the frequency with which individuals fortify their homes against possible invasion, avoid contact with certain people or use self-defense arms (Guedes et al., 2018). These behaviors have been aggregated in different categories, namely the avoidance, protective and defensive.

Finally, while fear of crime might be conceived as an experiential fear – a transitory and short-lived experience, generated by an external stimulus – it can also be understood as an expressive fear. Here, fear is built through the knowledge and individual's perceptions about their community or broader social-cultural concerns (Farrall et al., 2009).

In fact, one of the premises for the study of fear of crime is that it operates at different levels of meaning and awareness, constantly emerging and reacting to direct personal experiences, knowledge about the experiences of others and mediated sources of information, and to broader narratives about anxieties related to “the way society is today” (Lupton & Tulloch, 1999, p. 521). The attempts to understand the dynamics underlying the fear of crime have led to numerous empirical and theoretical developments. Some studies examine the effects of structural characteristics, such as crime rates, social disorganization and ethnicity, on fear; others argue that those who experience victimization, directly or indirectly through the experiences communicated in their interpersonal relationships, manifest a greater sense of fear than those who do not (Liska & Baccaglini, 1990). Other authors focus on individual characteristics such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, education (Hale, 1996) and, more recently, personality (Guedes et al., 2018). We briefly overview a set of relevant results related to the main explanations of fear of crime.

Explanations of Fear of Crime

In order to understand the phenomenon of fear of crime, sociodemographic characteristics appear in the literature, which include sex, age, ethnicity and economic status (e.g., Pain, 2001; Rader et al., 2007). People may feel especially vulnerable to the risk of crime because they are likely to be targets of victimization, because they feel that the impact of crime would be particularly serious and also, they are unable to control whether or not crime occurs (Farrall et al., 2007). Some individuals may associate a type of crime with particularly serious consequences, since they feel particularly vulnerable to the criminal event (Warr, 1987). Moreover, the internalization of female frailty (e.g., derived from apparently inferior physical abilities) and the vision of the body as an easy target for certain crimes such as rape (messages that can be socially constructed, including by the media), can put women in a high state of fear and lead them to adopt more security and protection measures (Campbell, 2005). We can distinguish, on one hand, the physical vulnerability defined by the assessment of one's physical strength and personal competence in the case of aggression, which is often used to explain the increased fear of crime levels among women. On the other hand, social vulnerability is influenced by the social network, personal financial situation and access to material and social resources, related to the higher levels of fear among disadvantaged ethnic and socio-economic minorities (Franklin et al., 2008; Skogan & Maxfield, 1981).

Focusing attention on another set of variables - the physical and social environmental contexts - there is an understanding that indicates that people's responses to crime are based on the experiences of everyday life. For that reason, it is essential to investigate the fear of crime by exploring the dynamic contexts in which the fear of crime is generated and experienced (Lupton & Tulloch, 1999). Fear can arise when people see the erosion of the values that keep public behavior under control - such as neighborhood connections that create security feelings - and is an expression of the most everyday social concerns that can generate similar patterns of emotional and behavioral responses. Incivilities become a symbol of decadent communities (communities where incivilities and lack of connection between neighbors are identified) and can produce fear of crime, even with relatively low rates of criminality (Hale, 1996). Incivilities can be differentiated according to two categories - social and physical ones (LaGrange et al., 1992). The first concerns disruptive behaviors, namely drinking in public spaces, begging, the presence of gangs, among others. The latter refer to disordered environments, such as the visualization of abandoned cars, destroyed properties, garbage and empty or deteriorated houses (Franklin et al., 2008). On the other hand, residents in areas of high crime, where the spirit of cohesion in the community and involvement is high, may be less afraid. Faced with a scenario of physical deterioration and social disorder, perceptions of risk and assessments of the consequences of victimization are also affected by people's feelings about their neighborhood and the support network they feel or not on the part of the community (Hale, 1996). In conclusion, individuals’ fear of crime can be shaped by the organization of the environment, public social behaviors, the period of the day and also by social integration, meaning, the sense of belonging and connection of a person in their local environment (Franklin et al., 2008).

Fear can also depend on the location of individual such as the fact of living in more rural or urban contexts. As an example, Little et al. (2005) reveal that the social relations that characterize rural areas are presented as stronger and more durable compared to the individualism of urban society. In addition, the harmonious, close and authentic social relations attributed to the rural community are strongly linked to feelings of security. The security of the rural environment is seen in part as a result of its separation from the city, so comparisons between the “safe” rural and the “dangerous” city are increasingly reflected in the representation of the urban as a threat to the rural (idem).

Lastly, considering also the experiences of victimization and its relevance in the investigation of fear of crime, the several studies that worked on its relationships have shown mixed results. (Evans and Fletcher, 2000; Hale, 1996; Hill et al., 1985). For instance, Hanslmaier (2013) found significant differences in fear of crime levels considering the victimization experiences. In fact, those who were victimized during the previous two years reported a level of fear significantly higher compared to individuals without this recent victimization experience. On the other hands, people who have never been victims are more likely to fear the occurrence of crimes (e.g., Wilcox et al., 2006). To clarify the different meanings of this relationship, other authors justify that more relevant than direct victimization is experiencing victimization indirectly (e.g., having a family member, friend, neighbor or community member who was a victim) which can effectively have a substantial impact on fear crime (e.g., Rader et al., 2007). Through sharing the experiences of those who have been the target of crimes, people are subject to ‘vicarious victimization’ (Hale, 1996, p. 108). The perception of crime can be more strongly shaped by the character of the addictive crime information than by personal experiences. Finally, it should be noted that fear of crime also involves issues of representation and meaning, and therefore it is vital to understand the character and uses of the mass media in conjunction with other sources of meaning and within the local context (Lupton & Tulloch, 1999).

Mass Media and Fear of Crime

As referred before, individuals form their beliefs about real levels of crime through two main sources: direct observation of reality and, on the other hand, through indirect channels such as television, internet, newspapers and radio (Mastrorocco & Minale, 2018), the last source to be explored below.

Diverse theories that help to understand the role of the media consumption in the fear of crime have been developed. Therefore, in the next lines these theories will be briefly outlined. One of the most established theories is Cultivation Theory conceived by George Gerbner in the 1960s. The empirical studies by Gerbner and Gross (1976) demonstrated that frequent television viewers (those who watch television for more than four hours a day) are more likely to feel that they live in a violent society due to the fact that television exaggerates so much severity as the risk of criminal victimization, portraying the world as a “scary medium” (Reiner, 2002). Thus, the greater the consumption, the greater the likelihood that consumers’ perceptions of the real world will align with what is represented in the media. Several studies have attempted to test the theory of cultivation, among which Dolliver et al. (2018) and Boda and Szabó (2011), and both found a strong connection between consumption and fear of crime. This result may indicate that the vision presented by the participants echoes the picture shown by the media, which portrays life as dangerous and unpredictable. Nevertheless, the relevance and empirical support of the cultivation theory has been mixed (e.g., Potter, 2014). For instance, a meta-analysis employed by Shanahan and Morgan (1999) found that the television exposure predicted only 1% of the variation in the cultivation indicators.

An interesting alternative to this theory as an explanation for the fear of public crime is that people use their personal experience or the experience of others on their social networks to decide whether or not they should be concerned with crime (Romer et al., 2003; Sacco, 1995). According to the Substitution Thesis, “greater exposure to exaggerated representations of crime on television, in the absence of other more direct sources of information, can lead to assimilation of high perceptions of the occurrence of crime” (Weaver & Wakshlag, 1986, pp. 153–154; Romer et al., 2003). This theory is based on the framework of cultivation, but additionally takes into account the characteristics of the public, maintaining that media stories related to crime cause greater fear among individuals without experience of personal victimization (Weaver & Wakshlag, 1986; Weitzer & Kubrin, 2004). In the study by Intravia et al. (2017) there was a positive and significant relationship between consumption and their fear of crime, for individuals who reported feeling “very safe” walking alone in their neighborhood at night.

Contrary to the previous approach, the Resonance Thesis states that the media will increase fear when the content is consistent with personal experience (Weitzer & Kubrin, 2004). Thus, the media reinforces what individuals experience in the real world. As Eschholz (1997, p. 47) states: “[individuals] living in areas with a high level of criminality may be particularly sensitive to crime on television due to their direct knowledge of the crime problem in their neighborhoods”. This approach is confirmed in the study by Doob and Macdonald (1979), where residents in high-crime urban areas watched more television and, in general, tended to watch more violent content and to show higher levels of fear.

In summary, when research into television's relationship with fear began, Gerbner and Gross (1976) argued that television programing contained a relatively homogenous ideological message that “cultivated” a more or less generic view of the world. Since then, other perspectives have emerged to designate that the TV/fear relationship can vary substantially by the specific content of television programing and by the specific sociocultural composition of its viewers, acting in harmony with other social factors that may control the presence, extent and meaning of the effects of the media (Gunter, 2008). It was then started to assess whether the “media effects” would be consistent or variable by the characteristics of the audience (Eschholz et al., 2003), realizing that both the social reality of each one and the sociodemographic characteristics, namely age and gender are important factors in shaping these experiences, which indicates that these factors must therefore affect the resonance of images transmitted by the media and their ability to cultivate an individual's view of the world (Cohen & Weimann, 2000).

Factors and Processes Involved in the Meanings Attributed to the Media

In order to understand how consumers are affected by the media, it is useful to explore what makes individuals view media content (Zillman & Wakshlag, 1985). Furthermore, the way in which individuals perceive the mode of transmission and the content of the news, together with the interpretation that each person makes of the facts portrayed in the information product, are equally relevant aspects for a better understanding of the role of the media in the fear of crime. Furthermore, individuals may also be subconsciously influenced by hegemonic interpretations of the content of news and the facts portrayed in the information product.

The framing of news by the media, namely the sensationalism involved, is one of the elements suggested as crucial to the level of fear of crime in the public (Warr, 1994, 2000). In fact, the way in which the media represent crime often includes “sensationalist” aspects, which focus on negative images of crime in communities (Heath & Gilbert, 1996). Associated with the view of news as sensationalists is also the perception of them as realistic. Potter (1986, p. 161) states that viewers “… who believe that television content is real are more likely to be influenced by it than viewers who believe that content is fictional”. Both the sensationalism and the realism associated with the transmitted content are elements often related with other factor - the perceived credibility of the source -, which can play an important role in the fear of crime (Rogers, 2005). Thus, if the source is perceived as less credible, the information, although it may be reliable itself, is likely to be discredited regarding the implications on insecurity, leading people to “label” it and declare it less relevant.

Other factors that influence the effects of mass media presentations on fear of crime are also the identification of the reader with those involved in the episode portrayed, such as the association with the same social group (e.g., the same nationality for the reader) and for one of the parties involved (Weber, 2014). On the same line, knowing the victim, especially when living in the same area, can have a much more immediate impact than hearing about a crime in a distant area (and being an unknown/random victim) (Hale, 1996). Additionally, the location of the reported crime (Heath & Gilbert, 1996; Koomen et al., 2000) also influences the levels of fear. As an example, in the study by Heath (1984) it was found that the reports on crimes, although apparently “bizarre”, about cities other than those of residence of the participants in his study, reassured them and reduced their fear.

In conclusion, individuals bring to the interpretation of the experience their own predispositions and the content learned on their social networks, which influence what the news about crime means to them. These predispositions can include personal experiences with crime or violence, perceptions of the credibility of the media or the extension of the previous concern with personal security (Sacco, 1995).

Method

Sample

For the constitution of the sample, two criteria of access to individuals were taken into consideration. On the one hand, theoretical sampling was used, in which the criteria that define its nature were based both on the literature and on the research questions previously mentioned (Mason, 2002). In addition to the aforementioned sampling, intentional sampling was also used, since there was an active search in the choice of participants in view of the objectives and research questions, as well as accessibility in accessing them (Coyne, 1997). Twenty individuals were invited to participate, having been initially contacted by telephone, and were intentionally chosen according to the aforementioned criteria, with no refusal of participants. Moreover, these respondents were asked to indicate other potential participants (snow-ball sampling), who were then contacted by researchers.

In total, 20 individuals were interviewed, of which 12 were female and 8 were male. During the sampling process, we sought to ensure as much heterogeneity as possible, based on key variables such as age, gender and area of residence (rural and urban), in order to obtain a greater diversity of perspectives. Concerning the area of residence, thirteen individuals were from two Portuguese rural areas, and seven were residents from an urban city in Portugal. Regarding age, it is possible to observe four main groups: nine individuals aged between 20 and 25 years old, four individuals aged between 26 and 45 years old, five individuals between 46 and 55 years old and two individuals between 56 and 60 years old. The professional occupancy was also diverse across sample. In fact, seven were students and the remaining thirteen had different jobs in various areas such as law, engineering, home care, mechanics, among others. After conducting the interviews, it was possible to distinguish that eleven individuals had direct victimization experiences and nine had no past victimization experience. Among those who revealed to have had an experience of victimization (in the attempted and / or effective way), five individuals reported having been victims of theft, robbery or attempted robbery, two of sexual harassment, three of threats to physical integrity or persecution and one of physical aggression.

Methodological Procedures

The individuals that compose the sample were interviewed between December 2018 and January 2019. First, the objectives of the study were briefly explained, trying to avoid any bias in the explanation of the same. Respondents were asked about their willingness to participate in the investigation, were informed about the issues of anonymity and confidentiality, as well as the audio recording and the possibility of withdrawing at any time, without prejudice of any kind. After clarification, interviews were scheduled, taking place in the participants’ homes or in public spaces, as it was impossible to implement the first hypothesis. These had an average duration of 30–60 min.

Interview Script and Analysis

To achieve the specified objectives, a qualitative approach was used in the form of semi-structured interviews, which provides the discovery of rich data and patterns that have not been studied. The interviews were based on a script previously developed according to the objectives that we intended to explore, in order to boost the discourse, and at same time allowing the opening to the emergence of new topics, as long as they are related to the research theme. The guide was divided into three fundamental parts: (a) main dimensions, (b) sub-dimensions and (c) proposal of questions. Within the central dimensions, we explored (i) the meanings associated with (in) security; (ii) social contexts and fear figures; (iii) victimization experiences; (iv) media consumption habits; (v) the perceptions about the media and (vi) the consequences of the consumption of the media. For each general category, some important subcategories or topics to be explored have been defined, as well as some questions have been suggested.

Regarding the content of the script, we planned to ask around 30 questions, varying between open and semi-closed questions. These were some examples of the questions: “In your perspective, what distinguishes a “safe” environment from an “unsafe” environment?”, “Could you tell me about places close to your area of residence where you like to be?”, “What aspects of these places make you feel safe?”, “What kind of news draw your attention?”, “What characteristics must a piece of news have in order for you to trust and take it seriously?”, “What do you feel when you see or hear news about a crime that took place in Portugal?” and “Now imagine that it is a news story about a crime that took place in your area of residence. What aspects of the news would make you most worried/fearful?”.

In this study, the data analysis procedure followed the Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) starting with the transcription of the interviews. The audio recording of the interviews, at this stage, prevented the loss of information. The next step was to read the transcripts of the interviews and to build synopses that allowed, at first, to draw some conclusions, classify ideas into categories and identify potential relationships between them. Then, during the readings and in conjunction with the research questions, codes were created, constituting the stage called codification. After the codes were created, the excerpts from the interviews were associated with those, some of which were repeated, as they were suitable for more than one code. This whole process - called thematic analysis - involved data reduction by identifying patterns, describing and classifying data into themes or categories that allow for a broader interpretation of the data. These categories denote information units composed of situations, events and instances that place the participants’ experiences in the context under analysis (Lindseth & Norberg, 2004).

Results

Media Consumption Habits and Perceptions

Starting with the central topic of this study, we sought, within the study of the habits of media consumption, to unveil the type of media most viewed, distinguishing between the use of traditional means of communication such as radio, television and newspapers, and the use of social media like the internet, and social networks. Interestingly, it was found that all individuals who used traditional media exclusively lived in rural areas and were aged between 51 and 60 years. This result is in line with the general understanding of the literature that social media, namely the internet, are rapidly becoming an important means of communication, especially among younger individuals (Intravia et al., 2017; Roche et al., 2016), while traditional means of accessibility in rural areas make their (traditional media) use more frequent. The following discourse reflect the distance of individual from the rural areas to the internet (namely, social networks):

“I am already a person who is not twenty years old (laughs), I come from a time when the internet is not for me, the internet started for my children… I am not even aware of it, I do not have Facebook and etc…”

(Female, 52 years old, rural area)

For a better understanding of the role of the media in the daily lives of the sample, we also explored how the interviewees of this study perceived the media in the transmission of news. In the analysis of the discourses, we found similar perceptions in most of the sample - an absence of credibility associated with a series of factors, especially sensationalism. This was clearly expressed in the discourses of the interviewees, justified, on the one hand, by an extreme intrusion of private life, with excessively detailed news and, on the other hand, by a strong language and visual content used by the media. Accordingly, Sacco (1995) argues that, when it comes to crime-related news, individuals tend to show some skepticism, interpreting and contrasting what they see in the media with their experiences and experiences of their interpersonal networks. Therefore, individuals of the present study reported strategies such as the crossing of sources (i.e., consulting more than one source regarding the same news) as a “defense mechanism” for possible false news and the importance of scientific basis, official sources and research to counter common sense that is easily transmitted. Let's see some examples in the following excerpts:

“I think they are sometimes broadcast in a slightly sensational way… I think they sometimes take excerpts from interviews to make headlines about it and I think they use certain words or certain very strong images to take very radical positions…”

(Female, 22 years old, urban area)

“I think a good way to prove the truth is to try to readily cross sources and different means and see what can be taken from there, and what is a lie, or what has been exaggerated and so on.”

(Male, 28 years old, rural area)

Hierarchization of Means of Communication

One of the important conclusions that emerged through individual's discourses was the spontaneous way in which a large part of the sample hierarchized the means they choose to inform themselves. This hierarchy has a key criterion that assess the credibility that is attributed to the means, as the most legitimate to inform about the facts. For example, for four respondents (n = 4), the news watched on television serve to confirm the veracity of the news that are disseminated by other means. A possible interpretation for this result may be the official and reliable character that individuals attribute to the television news, increasing confidence in this mean, for instance, highlighted by a woman of the sample:

“I think that there are certain sources that by themselves already give us some loyalty … for example, we consider the newscast… this news are a bit more real and that is transmitted by people to whom we already give some legitimacy…”

(Female, 20 years old, rural area)

In the study of McCracken (2011), the role of credibility in the frequency of consumption from different means is emphasized. In fact, the results of the study revealed, concerned to local television news, a relevant relationship between the frequency with which local television news is consumed and their perception of credibility. On the other hand, in the current study, and regarding the opinion that the sample reveals about social media (internet and social networks), the perception of the existence of false news was highlighted. Indeed, for all users and non-users, it is considered as a mean of communication, but not so much as a mean of preferential information.

“The internet in my case is not a mean that I use a lot for news because I think we’re going a bit too far… I don't think it's very credible (…) there are a lot of false news, people misrepresent the facts…”

(Male, 25 years old, rural area)

Meanings of Fear Considering the Nature and Extent of News

Throughout the conversations, it was also possible to suggest that the fear of crime may additionally depend on the nature and extent of local news and media content. Accordingly, Jackson (2011) refers that, when hearing about specific episodes of crime, which are brought home in a very close way - as if that could happen to you - individuals can then develop personalized representations of the risk of crime, through perception of serious consequences, lack of control and high probability of occurrence. In the study by Eschholz and colleagues (2003), the local violent crimes portrayed in the news for example, although less frequent, indicated a greater fear of crime, due to the combination of the proximity and the realism of the episodes. Therefore, local crime news may be associated with a higher level of fear of crime for local residents compared to non-local crime news, and may even lead to these people commenting more on this news on their social media (e.g., on Twitter) (Kounadi et al., 2015). Accordingly, in the present investigation, for the majority of the sample (n = 16) it was found that the area of occurrence of the reported episode plays a major role, at least in the greater perception of risk. Here are two examples that shows this perception of risk:

“… in fact, only when it happens very close do we probably start to think that that reality that only happened to others is getting closer.”

(Male, 48 years old, rural area)

“The local news also makes me more afraid (…) As I am a very negative person, I am sure that the first thing I would think was: “well if this arrived here, it will certainly happen to me!” So it would have a lot of implications for my life and I would be even more concerned.”

(Female, 22 years old, urban area)

In addition to the relevance we found in relation to the location of the reported crime, the identification characteristics (n = 4) emerged as important, interpreted as knowing the victim and/or the offender and spontaneously arose as enhancers of a greater perception of risk and fear of crime, as it is a closer reality. Interestingly, this aspect was mentioned by individuals only from rural areas, and this result can be understood under the perspective that considers the importance of social ties and integration in the community - characteristics mostly associated with rural areas in the literature (e.g., Little et al., 2005; Riger et al., 1981). These social ties can be relevant in the role that knowing the victim and/or the offender might have in the fear of crime, as these two individuals point out:

“If I know the victim or the criminal, it makes me feel more afraid, it is a reality closer to me…”

(Female, 55 years old, rural area)

“These things that a person hears, regarding other merchants, or other customers, in this case my brother… a person knows that and ends up being also afraid that the same thing may happen to you…”

(Female, 52 years old, rural area)

Finally, for nine individuals of the sample (n = 9), the type of crime reported has different meanings, often when it comes to the crimes they fear most. At this point, terrorism stood out as a type of crime feared for its “worldwide” character and for being “increasingly present”. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the media plays a significant role in fear of terrorism, compared to other types of crime, since it is a rare phenomenon for a large part of the areas of residence, serving the media as the source of information more accessible about the topic (Nellis & Savage, 2012). We now show an excerpt on the above:

“World terrorism organizations are what scared me the most (…) in the new year I was in the Aliados [famous square in the city of Porto] and I was talking to the person who I was with me… this would be a spectacular place to attack (…) for terrorist acts there is no defense possible… just be in the wrong place, at the wrong time… and it is more worrying in that respect… ordinary people they can't do anything.”

(Female, 22 years old, urban area)

Experiences and Meanings of Fear Beyond Media

When expressing the meanings of insecurity, gender differences are revealed. On the one hand, in women, we find a tendency to describe a constant distrust and discomfort in certain environments or situations, such as unknown places, places dimly illuminated, isolated or marked by conflicts.

“Feeling afraid is walking on the street and feeling that we are being persecuted, feeling that someone is coming towards us, someone who is looking at us strangely…”

(Female, 52 years old, rural area)

On the other hand, for men, insecurity results in a feeling of lack of control in circumstances that they describe as threatening. This result may fit in with what Day and colleagues (2013) observed in their study, where male subjects identified their apprehension as a feeling of being “out of control”. These individuals revealed the importance of constant attention to the surrounding environment, that is, surveillance, which allows the anticipation of possible confrontations, similar to what men reported in the present study. These different ideas were expressed, among others, in the examples below:

“A safe environment is being among people who … I know who are close to me (…) I like going to places I already know who works and who frequents them … I like it to feel like a family environment.”

(Male, 56 years old, rural area)

“One way to feel safe personally is to avoid situations of conflict, discussion, situations that I know can have bad consequences for me.”

(Male, 45 years old, rural area)

Throughout the conversations, it was also possible to highlight another difference in the expressions of insecurity for men and women. In general, women expressed greater feelings of “fear” or states of “alertness”. In males, there was a reluctance to pronounce the expression “fear” in the exposure they made of their insecurities. In the same vein, the results of the qualitative studies by Madriz (1997) and Guedes (2016) found the evidence of greater suppression of the expression “fear” in males and the avoidance of confrontations where they feel they can lose control. These findings may be justified in line with what we saw earlier in the literature framework - men tend to be less willing to admit to others their concerns and their perception of vulnerability, choosing to omit their real levels of fear (Koomen et al., 2000; Sutton & Farrall, 2004). These results can then be explained by a question of “social desirability”, associated with a status and self-representation that men seek to maintain. For example, Sutton and Farrall (2004) found in their study that men are more concerned with distorting their responses for reasons of self-representation reported lower levels of fear. The next example highlights this type of discourse:

“(…) we are careful to close the doors, of course we guarantee that we have lighting around the house, but this is almost the normal procedure, it is not a matter of fear, it is almost a mandatory thing. I’m not afraid, I still don't see the need here to feel fear.”

(Male, 48 years old, rural area)

Finally, there seems to be no gender differences in this study taking into consideration the four (two men and two women) individual's perception of importance of the place of residence as a source of security, when individuals are from the rural environment. There is agreement as to their perception of the area where they live as calm, peaceful, where there is trust in the people who live in it and, as such, the concerns they accuse are of a mostly economic and family nature.

“I feel safe because I also live in a rural environment, I have no security issues, or I have never had it to this day. I can't say there are reasons to feel insecure…”

(Female, 55 years old, rural area)

“I have other concerns that I find more relevant, my family, work, health (…)”

(Male, 60 years old, rural area)

Discussion

The present study aimed at explore the interpretations and meanings attributed to the media and its role on fear of crime, unraveling possible gender and residential areas differences. For that, 20 qualitative interviews were undertaken to a diversified Portuguese sample. In general, two main results in accordance with the previous literature were found: firstly, the almost exclusive use of traditional media (e.g., television news) by individuals from the rural environment (Intravia et al., 2017; Roche et al., 2016) and, secondly, that individuals have the general idea that the media are sensationalist and that they should be suspicious of their content (Heath & Gilbert, 1996). For example, Koomen and colleagues (2000) found that the effect of a newspaper article on the fear of theft, fear of crime in general and concern about theft as a social problem depended on the credibility of the mean. Similarly, in the study by Zhu et al., (2018), readers of the non-sensationalist press had a higher perception of the crime than those who preferred the more sensationalist newspapers. In addition, individuals with greater awareness also showed less fear of crime. The study results thus indicate that readers of a less sensationalist press are more likely to be more aware of the “big picture” of reality. Consequently, and based on this detail, it becomes more likely that these readers will move on to a more objective analysis, thus harboring less fear. In the study by Purcell et al., (2010) around 49% of individuals said they preferred to receive direct and objective news, while 31% preferred sources that shared their point of view.

While exploring the perceptions of the sample concerning the social media, the view of the existence of fake news stood out. The same was verified in the study by Intravia et al. (2017), for example, in which individuals showed to be aware of the circulation of false information on the Internet. Therefore, in the present study, it was observed that individuals use other means to obtain reliable information about crime, along with the study by Hollis et al. (2017) where when assessing how much people acquire their information about crime on social networks and on the internet, they found that traditional media sources and official crime rates in the city are more important than information from social media sources.

This study also confirms the notion that the fear of crime may depend additionally on the nature and extent of local news and media content. This can be justified by the fact that individuals use local crime news as a reference point to understand the environment around them (Yanich, 2001). In this regard, Näsi and colleagues’ study (2021) reflects the fact that a large part of people are not passive consumers of crime news, that is, individuals can actively seek this content. Moreover, for this sample, local news, compared to others, produces the greatest risk perception, triggers the adoption of diverse security measures and increases fear of crime. Moreover, it can be argued that the role of the media in fear of crime depends on the characteristics of individuals, place of residence and experiences of victimization (direct and indirect). Therefore, our results are aligned with Banks (2005)'s ideas that for each home the consumption, interpretation and “effects” of the reported crime should be considered within the local context of each one. Thus, in this study, both the Resonance Thesis and the Substitution Thesis help to explain the differential impact of the media.

Notwithstanding the results described above, there are studies that believe that the influence of the media is secondary rather than direct, and that it is difficult to find direct causal effects of the media on fear of crime (Elmas, 2021). In Debraelet and colleagues’ study (2021), for example, greater news consumption did not always result in more fear of terrorism, suggesting that the power of opinion formation through the media should be relativized, as only limited correlations were found to specific types of media (e.g., television news exposure and more fear of terrorism). Thus, the media are a dynamic social institution whose effect on fear of crime will remain difficult to fully demonstrate. That is, the degree and way in which public fears are influenced by the media have been studied, but open questions remain (Perkins & Taylor, 2002).

Beyond the media, in general, the entire sample transported their meanings of insecurity to a physical, social and/or temporal context, through clues or signs that could be perceived as threatening. In females, a tendency to describe a constant distrust and discomfort in certain environments was found. For men, insecurity caused a feeling of lack of control in circumstances they describe as threatening. In terms of the environment, people often consider their area of residence or even the house itself as a safe place because both denote a sense of ownership of the space (Lupton, 1999). In this study, individuals from rural areas were safer in their areas of residence. Within the area of residence, tranquility and good relations with the neighborhood – highlighted as an essential informal social control mechanism – were also factors that emerged as associated with the security they attribute to the environment in which they live. In the words of Swatt and colleagues (2013), it creates the physical and social context for interactions among neighborhood residents that help shape notions of “community” and individuals’ perceptions of their broader social space. Therefore, we can consider that regarding the view of the place of residence as a source of security, residents of rural areas do not have gender has an influence. Here, the focus is on people's assessments of the extent to which crime and disorder are real problems for their community, and in several studies, individuals consider their home zone to be safer compared to others (Skogan, 1999).

As factors of insecurity, the sample reported fear of the unknown, physical disorders, conflicts and the night. In Lupton’s (1999) study for example, for most people who felt insecure, the night was a particularly “unsafe” period, because space was not as visible and darkness brought with it a sense of threat. Therefore, this feeling induces a response pattern that focuses on avoiding threatening places.

Notwithstanding the relevance of the results discussed above, it is important to emphasize the main limitation of the study, namely the use of a small sample size (n = 20). The issue of generalizability in qualitative research has been highly debated (Maxwell, 2020; Polit & Beck, 2010). Even though researchers are interested in providing a contextualized understanding of the human experiences and feelings through particular cases, not many of them are in accordance with the importance of generalization of the results. Strategies such as replication of studies, employing larger sample sizes and mixed-methods have been suggested to increase the capacity of generalization. Therefore, the results of the present study must be read in light of the specific context where it was developed and further investigation is needed to confirm our assumptions.

Conclusions

This qualitative study presents a set of conclusions and implications that must be highlighted. First, in spite of the incontestable importance of the internet as a means of communication, especially among younger people, the traditional media in rural environments continue to be relevant source of information and more frequently used. Second, this research suggests the need to deeply explore the issue of credibility of the news in general, which seems to be related to aspects such as sensationalism. The rapidly increase of fake news (mainly noticed in social media) produces the need to cross sources by individuals as a defense mechanism. Accordingly, we conclude that people hierarchize the media means based on credibility – for instance, news watched on television confirm the veracity of news read on social networks. Important conclusions are also drawn when analyzing how the media shapes fear of crime experiences. In fact, the present study suggests the area of occurrence of the episodes disseminated by the news plays a major role. Concretely, knowing the victim and/or the offender and the location of the news were aspects that differentially influenced l aspects that influenced fear of crime and risk perceptions. Finally, and consistent with many previous studies, the vulnerability hypothesis may be adequate to understand higher fear of crime in women reported by our sample. It is argued that the effects of the media will be greater among individuals who perceive themselves as defenseless in the face of criminal victimization, when women and the elderly are often mentioned in this position. The same was evidenced mostly in individuals who had experienced past direct victimization.

Finally, it should be noted that frequent communication about crime facilitates preventive behavior, in turn, reaching individuals in general, and not just those who have suffered any type of victimization. In this study, the use of preventive measures emerged as a routine behavior and when faced with the possibility of a crime in the area where they live - through news - the main consequence announced by the subjects was the reinforcement of defensive behaviors and / or protection and avoidance.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Inês Guedes

Author Biographies

Cynthia Silva is Degree and Master in Criminology from the Faculty of Law of the University of Porto. Postgraduate in Crisis Intervention. Works at the Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV) as a Project Officer in the field of violence prevention. Develops research in the areas of security, cybercrime and victimology.

Inês Guedes is Master and PhD in Criminology from the Faculty of Law of the University of Porto (FDUP). Assistant Professor at the same University. She is a founding and integrated member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research-Crime, Justice and Security (CJS) of the FDUP and a collaborating member of the Center for Legal, Economic and Environmental Studies (CEJEA).

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The Role of the Media in the Fear of Crime: A Qualitative Study in the Portuguese Context

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Theoretical Background

Definition of Fear of Crime

Explanations of Fear of Crime

Mass Media and Fear of Crime

Factors and Processes Involved in the Meanings Attributed to the Media

Method

Sample

Methodological Procedures

Interview Script and Analysis

Results

Media Consumption Habits and Perceptions

Hierarchization of Means of Communication

Meanings of Fear Considering the Nature and Extent of News

Experiences and Meanings of Fear Beyond Media

Discussion

Conclusions

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

Author Biographies

References