無孔不入的媒體現實：直接和間接經驗對香港與廣州受眾犯罪觀念的影響

本研究通過整合涵化理論與非個人影響理論探討了不同的信息源在影響個人對犯罪的觀念的形成及變化過程中所起的作用。作者于1997年和1999年在香港和廣州收集了官方犯罪統計數據，報紙的犯罪報導並對兩地居民進行了抽樣調查。分析顯示，儘管兩地的實際犯罪率均有下降，但是媒體報導的篇幅與煽情程度卻大幅增加，而居民對犯罪的看法更加接近媒體的描述。兩地居民均普遍認為另一社區更危險，這與我們提出的「第三地效應」具有相符之處。

Integrating the cultivation and impersonal impact approaches, this research assessed the relative contribution of direct experience, interpersonal communication, and media use habits on crime perceptions by people from two communities, Hong Kong and mainland city of Guangzhou. Data from newspaper content, parallel surveys, and official statistics were obtained in both communities in 1997 and 1999 to investigate the impact of the three perception sources on: estimates of crime rates, mean world judgments, and fear of crime. Within and cross-community comparisons closely connected individuals’ heightened crime perceptions with media’s sensational crime coverage. Direct experience and knowledge about the other community tended to contradict the media world, although interpersonal discussions appeared to compliment media portrayals. Findings showed some supportive evidence for the prediction that cultivation and impersonal impact would become strengthened when the object of evaluation was removed from one’s own community. This “other-community effect” tended to be reinforced by informal communication.