Source: (2007) Crime, Media, Culture. 3(3):285-304.
This article summarizes the findings from a two-year research project, funded by
the Nuffield Foundation, which explored the impact of a criminologist presenting
factual information on crime and criminal justice through a weekly column in a local
newspaper. The research included a natural quasi-experiment, the impact of which was
assessed through a large-scale survey and in-depth interviews with members of the
public. The key finding from the research was that readership of the column was low
(although not as low as survey responses initially indicated), and that the column had
no measurable impact on readers. The findings suggest that interest in, take-up, and
retention of factual information on crime and criminal justice is not as high as previous
empirical research has suggested.
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