1.10. Media Coverage of Crimes 
SHANELL SANCHEZ 
Violent Times Example 
One morning, after checking email, which is a pretty standard task, my grandfather writes a daily email. This 
morning he discusses the violent times we are all living in and how murder is everywhere. He discusses how he 
worries about the future of his family members because the United States is a dangerous place to live. He often 
provides explanations for this ‘increase in crime’ that I, as a criminologist, know to be untrue. Sometimes he will say 
kids are violent because of social media or video games, other times he will blame it on immigrants. Regardless, my 
grandfather lives in fear. He is fearful of someone breaking into his home, and at the age of 80, had a security screen 
installed in their nice suburban area in Colorado. He avoids downtown Denver because of his belief it is overrun by 
‘gang bangers.’ However, where could all these ideas come from for him. My grandfather has never worked in the 
criminal justice system, he never studied it, he did not attend college but has such strong thoughts about policies 
that need to get enacted, problems with society, and he often states them as a fact. The answer: THE NEWS. 
Perhaps watching too much television can cause an overestimation of rates of crime both in reality and on television. 
1 
Media is not a terrible thing that is conspiring to ruin our minds. Please know it is very beneficial and can 
help share information, but we need to be aware of the downfalls of media and even which media we choose 
to watch. Do not want to say “I am over the news” because it serves an important purpose! Also, keep in 
mind that crime is going DOWN and has been consistently doing so. However, research has shown that 
entertainment and news media create an image that we are living in a dangerous world. 
2 It can be easy 
to become fearful after watching too much news if we let ourselves fall trap to losing the facts. “Factfulness 
recognizes when we get negative news, and remembering that information about bad events is much more 
1. Hetsroni, A., & Tukachinsky, R. H. (2006). Television-world estimates, real world estimates, and television viewing: A new scheme for 
cultivation. Journal of Communication, 56, 133-156. 
2. Jewkes, Y. (2015). Media and crime (3rd ed.).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 
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