A study examined whether the media in Louisiana have reflected current media trends of emphasis on crime news, focusing on crime news content in the 24 Louisiana daily newspapers. Since a key part of the research was the comparison of trends in newspaper accounts of crime and the reported crime rate, the 22 communities with daily newspapers were grouped by city size rather than by circulation. Two one-week periods from 1980 and 1985 were randomly chosen for analysis of crime content. Crime news was defined as any item concerning law breaking by adults or juveniles, as well as those items focusing on crime as a social problem, methods of crime prevention, and crime rate increases and decreases. Results indicated that overall, crime news in Louisiana dailies increased from 1980 to 1985. Crime prevention items, for example, increased significantly by more than 200%. Such an increase suggests cooperation between newspapers and law enforcement agencies. Results also indicated that more crime news was published on the front pages of Louisiana dailies in 1985 than in 1980, suggesting that violent crimes are accorded a statistically unwarranted status in the media when the ratio of violent crime to all other crimes is considered. Findings suggested that in 1985 Louisiana newspapers portrayed a picture of crime on the increase, a picture not totally consistent with officially reported crime statistics. (Tables of data are included, and footnotes are appended.) (NKA)