Culture, in all its multitude of definitions is fundamentally important to the functioning of the criminal justice system in every society. Traditional theories of crime have more often than not, overlooked the effects of cultural as well as environmental factors and their impact on human conduct. Culture is more than mere ethnicity and embraces within its ambit ideals and beliefs about religion, interpersonal relationships, society, family life, sexuality and politics. There is a constant struggle over the meaning of
culture which by its very nature is the essence of culture and despite this ongoing struggle over meaning, it has certain boundaries. No society can sustain its existence without some common understanding of social norms and practices and while individuals differ in their abilities and thoughts, falling short of social and cultural expectations creates a certain sense of dissatisfaction, aggression and frustration in them, which translates into perpetration of crime and deviant behavior. Culture has a telling influence on the conduct of individuals in the society and amongst the various factors directing social life within popular culture; media has emerged as the most influential one. In the light of recent events of violence aimed at prominent media houses in France and other countries, the present paper aims to bring out the relationship between crime and media and trace out the effects of various cultural settings on the fear of crime.