How constant crime headlines make fear grow faster than reality

As violent crime headlines stack up across Saskatchewan, an expert warns it’s not just the incidents themselves shaping public anxiety — it’s how often people are exposed to them.

Shootings, stabbings and homicides have dominated recent news cycles, from a triple homicide near Turtleford two months ago to a deadly shooting on Big Island Lake Cree Nation last week.

Read more:

• Woman charged with second-degree murder after three men shot dead in Turtleford: RCMP
• Big Island member appeals for help to curb violence, drugs, gang activity after fatal shooting
• Attack in Pleasant Hill leaves man with multiple stab wounds: Police

While most residents are never directly affected, public discourse indicates the steady stream of violent crime coverage has left many feeling uneasy.

Dr. Amin Asfari, the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Chair in Police Studies at the University of Regina, said the fear generated by repeated exposure to crime can have a deeper social impact than crime itself.

“Much of criminology focuses on the perception or fear of crime as opposed to the reality,” he said, citing New York University (NYU) law and sociology professor David Garland.

“When people are consuming news all the time, depending on the kind of crime, it can activate certain emotional responses, physiological responses in individuals and then collectively as groups.”

Asfari said crimes that appear random tend to heighten fear far more than those where there is a clear relationship between victim and offender.

“[When] a crime is seemingly random … it really heightens the public’s perception of fear that there’s something imminent, that this could happen to me with no reason whatsoever,” he said. “I don’t have to know the person in order to get violated or criminalized.

By contrast, crimes with an identifiable motive or connection often feel more distant to the public, even if they are equally violent.

The problem, he said, is that constant exposure to violent crime, especially when amplified through social media, can distort how people assess risk in their own lives.

“Legacy media and social media now play off of one another,” he said. “Your reporting will be posted also on social media, and so people are consuming it on multiple fronts.”

Dr. Amin Asfari is currently the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Chair in Police Studies in the Justice Studies Department at the University of Regina. (University of Regina website)

Coverage does not end with the headline. Comment sections, reposts and peer reactions add emotional layers that reinforce fear.

“Oftentimes, you go to the commentary,” Asfari said. “People are more inclined to say things like, ‘Things are really getting bad. Government’s not doing anything about it. I’m sick of all this.’”

That feedback loop, he said, can create a sense of collective fatigue.

“You see the kind of almost defeated attitude that people have,” he said.

At an individual level, Asfari said repeated exposure to violent crime news can take a measurable psychological toll.

“Higher stress levels, increased anxiety, feelings of helplessness,” he said. “You’re becoming vigilant all the time — hypersensitive, hyper-aware, emotionally exhausted.”

Over time, those effects can ripple outward, shaping how people view institutions meant to protect them.

“If you continuously consume news about crime, you begin to have eroded trust in the police,” Asfari said.

“And subsequently, eroded trust in policing leads often to eroded trust in government.”

That erosion of trust can lead to disengagement – not just from institutions, but from public life more broadly.

“Some people, their response is just avoid the news altogether,” he said. “If you avoid the news and avoid civic participation, it feels like, well, everything is normal because you don’t get to hear about it.”

Asfari also cautioned that fear can begin to shape political and institutional responses in ways that unintentionally intensify anxiety. He pointed to the concept of moral panic, where isolated incidents are perceived as widespread threats.

“Moral panics basically arise from news stories that become inflated,” he said. “Politicians have to act or react to it. They often react with force.”

Those reactions — further media coverage and increased police deployment — can reinforce the perception that danger is growing.

“Now the thing that the media told you was greater than it is, is actually becoming greater than it is,” Asfari said. “It sort of reifies your belief that something is wrong socially.”

While individuals can try to limit exposure by adjusting media habits, Asfari said the issue goes beyond personal responsibility.

“You’re talking about a very, very big problem,” he said. “I don’t know that individuals can do this.”

Instead, he said the challenge must be addressed at a broader social and policy level, recognizing the cumulative effects of constant negative feedback loops.

“If we recognize as policy workers and institutions in society that this kind of constant negative feedback loop has an implication for us and people’s trust in us, then it seems to me that that’s who needs to address this,” he said.

Asfari did not suggest avoiding crime coverage, but emphasized the importance of context.

“News media should be taken in the context in which it exists,” he said. “People need to reckon with the reality that the news media has a particular business model and that business model is to generate conversations and so on, whether they’re healthy or not.”

He said audiences should be reminded that headlines do not represent everyday life for most people.

“It’s rare that the kind of crime that we’re talking about, certainly violent crime, comes out of nowhere. That’s it.”

Understanding that distinction, Asfari said, may help people separate genuine risk from the fear created by repetition and begin to make sense of why constant exposure can feel overwhelming.

The news media’s responsibility

Teena Monteleone is the managing editor of Pattison Media, which operates news portals throughout Western Canada and Saskatchewan, including battlefordsNOW.com and paNOW.com.

She said the long-standing journalism mantra “if it bleeds, it leads” is often misunderstood. She believes crime stories lead not because journalists want to create fear, but because people have a real interest in public safety and knowing what’s happening in their community.

“If you look at our analytics on a daily basis in any of our markets, the crime-related stories are always the most read — even if they aren’t prominently featured on our site and even if they aren’t what we would consider the ‘biggest news story of the day’,” she said.

“Our job is to inform — not sensationalize — and we work hard to provide context and verified facts … some of which make people feel uncomfortable, but leaving that information out doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

She believes a lot of fear actually comes from social media, where stories spread without balance through opinions and citizen journalists who don’t know the whole story.

She said in Pattison Media newsrooms, there is a conscious effort to tell just as many positive stories as difficult ones, and they often use a solutions-based approach.

“So, we don’t just highlight problems, we also share what’s being done and what resources are available when we can. For example, there was a scurvy outbreak in northern Saskatchewan.

“Our reporter detailed that with statistics and quotes from health professionals, but also offered the reader information about how they can prevent scurvy using traditional methods native to their land and location.”

She encouraged readers to be cautious of where they ingest their news from. There is no guarantee a social media post is fact-checked, while newsrooms have standards they must abide by.

Ultimately, she said fear is not the goal — understanding is.