The so-called "cultivation hypothesis" proposes that television content comprises an organic whole of interrelated themes and symbols not necessarily congruent with the real world. However, findings of a primary study have indicated that television news has enough baseline credibility to have a significant impact on fear of crime among citizens. Therefore, a study was undertaken to (1) replicate the television news attention findings of the primary study within an urban metropolitan area sample, (2) expand the scope of dependent variables to include citizen orientations toward self-protection and crime prevention, (3) determine whether findings similar to television news are obtainable for newspaper crime content, and (4) utilize a panel survey design to investigate directions of causality between crime news attention and crime prevention orientations. Overall, data revealed that individuals who pay greater attention to televised news about crime are more fearful of crime and are more concerned about protecting themselves. Data also indicated that persons already concerned and knowledgeable were more likely to read newspaper reports and were more confident about protecting themselves. Finally, data revealed no correlation between overall television viewing or viewing of crime dramas and people's fear and perceptions of crime and its extent, or their attitudes toward self-protection. (CRH)