Research on racial-ethnic portrayals in television crime news is limited and questions remain about the sources of representations and how these vary for perpetrators versus victims. We draw from power structure, market share, normal crimes, racial threat, and racial privileging perspectives to further this research. The reported race or ethnicity of violent crime perpetrators and victims are modeled as functions of: (1) situational characteristics of crime stories; and (2) contextual characteristics of television market areas. The primary data are from a stratified random sample of television newscasts in (Long et al. 2005). An important innovation of our work is the use of a national, more generalizeable, sample of local news stories than prior researchers who tended to focus on single market areas. Results indicate that both the context of the story itself and the social structural context within which news stories are reported are relevant to ethnic and racial portrayals in crime news. We find limited support for power structure, market share, normal crimes and racial threat explanations of patterns of reporting. Racial privileging arguments receive more extensive support. Keywords media; crime news; race and ethnicity; context; television Media representations of crime shape public opinion in important ways, including through the frequency with which, and how they present criminal participants and victims. For example, views of the nature of the crime problem and who, or what, is responsible for said problem in a locale may be shaped by the extent to which specific groups are over-or underrepresented as perpetrators or victims in crime news relative to other groups or their share of criminal involvement or victimization. On the one hand, if media sources overrepresent NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript certain groups (e.g., males, people of color, etc.) as perpetrators, this may promote racial or gender stereotypes or reinforce public hostility toward such groups (e.g., Barlow, Barlow, and Chiricos 1990;Dixon, Azocar and Casas 2003; Linz 2000a, 2000b;Russell 1998). On the other hand, overrepresentation of the victimization of certain groups (e.g., females, Whites, etc.) may promote misleading views of what populations are the most vulnerable to crime, or who should fear crime. If media sources shape public opinion in these ways and such opinion has its counterpart in the development of criminal justice policies, differential treatment may be the result (e.g., harsher penalties for crimes that are more typically committed by certain perpetrators; greater attention to reducing the victimization of members of certain groups who may be erroneously perceived as being at greater risk for victimization) (Bobo and Johnson 2004;Russell 1998).In light of their potential influence, researchers have sought to assess empirically the nature and outcomes of media representations of crime. Further, because of the assumed differential group impact of such rep...

Using data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey and its companion datasets, we examined how neighborhood disorder, perceived danger and both individually perceived and contextually measured neighborhood social cohesion are associated with self-rated health. Results indicate that neighborhood disorder is negatively associated with health and the relationship is explained by perceived cohesion and danger, which are both also significant predictors of health. Further, individually perceived cohesion emerges as a more important explanation of self-rated health than neighborhood-level social cohesion. Finally, neighborhood disorder and perceived cohesion interact to influence health, such that cohesion is especially beneficial when residents live in neighborhoods characterized by low to moderate disorder; once disorder is at high levels, cohesion no longer offers protection against poor health. We interpret our findings as they relate to prior research on neighborhoods, psychosocial processes, and health, and discuss their implications for intervention efforts that address disorder in urban communities.

PURPOSE. This study examines whether local income inequality is associated with an increased likelihood of obesity among Los Angeles County residents and whether collective efficacy mediates the relationship. DESIGN. A cross-sectional study of 2875 adults in 65 neighborhoods that took part in wave 1 of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey in 2000-2001. Neighborhood measures are taken from the Los Angeles Neighborhood Services and Characteristics Database and decennial census. MEASURES. Obesity is defined as a body mass index over 30. Income inequality is operationalized with the Gini coefficient. Collective efficacy is a neighborhood-level measure comprised of aggregated responses to items that capture trust, cohesion, and the willingness to intervene for the common good among residents. Controls are included at the individual level for demographics and health characteristics, and at the neighborhood level for median household income. ANALYSIS. Logistic regression models of individuals within neighborhoods. RESULTS. When neighborhood economic well-being is controlled, income inequality is associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of obesity while also controlling for individual demographic and health-related characteristics. Collective efficacy exerts an independent and beneficial effect but does not mediate the relationship between inequality and obesity. CONCLUSION. Neighborhood social resources and economic heterogeneity are associated with a lower likelihood of obesity. It may be that economically heterogeneous neighborhoods, perhaps especially in Los Angeles County, contain characteristics that promote health.

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