“Adding context helps readers move away from blaming the driver or the pedestrian to recognize problems with road design.”The research is published in the November 15 issue of Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. It is a follow-up to work on how the media can skew blame in news coverage of traffic crashes. In the earlier research, Ralph found that news articles about road crashes referred to a vehicle in 81% of cases but referred to a driver just 19% of the time. “Time permitting, consider contacting a local transportation, urban planning, or public health expert to provide further context,” she adds. Fellow researcher Tara Goddard further recommends that in-house and general media style guides ought to clearly state that neutral language is essential when reporting on road crashes.

Source: Forbes November 17, 2019 13:52 UTC