This process occurs as personal experiences are screened through a law enforcement filter, contextualized by advocacy claims and culturally resonant news themes, and shaped by the conventions and requirements of commercial media. While news media may not have a powerful influence on the concern for personal safety, they do exert broadly ideological effects. The author notes that some critics of media coverage contend that the police perspective implicit in crime reporting dramatically restricts the parameters of discussion about the problem of crime, thereby ignoring the broader social forces the underlie crime patterns. As a result, traditional law enforcement responses are affirmed as the most efficient way to manage crime problems and the need to search for alternative ways of thinking about solutions to crime is minimized. 61 notes