418 Analysing the patterns of coverage of road crashes in Indian print media

<h3>Background</h3> Road traffic crashes cause 1.13 million deaths annually and it is the leading cause of death for children and young adults. 90% of deaths occur in lower and middle-income countries like India (fatality rates of 16 per 100,000 population). Such a huge number of deaths causes an alarming concern about current road safety measures. Despite the seriousness of the issue, it has not received the attention it deserves. Mass media plays a crucial role in determining a topic’s importance in society and consequently impacts policy decisions. <h3>Objectives</h3> This study aims to analyse how Indian print media reports road crashes. The media reports are analysed for different categories, including the victim’s age, victim type, victim’s gender, type of vehicle, location of the crash and reason for the crash, to check for any potential biases. <h3>Methods</h3> Articles from “The Times of India” newspaper (Delhi edition) involving road crashes or any road-safety-related articles were extracted using the keywords “accident”, “crash”, “hit”, “traffic”, etc. After analysis, information regarding the crashes, which includes word count, date of the crash, victim demographics, type of vehicle, location of the crash, etc, was recorded and then examined for descriptive statistics. <h3>Results</h3> Over a period of six months, 403 articles were extracted, reporting 258 distinct accidents. No apparent bias was observed for different age groups. However, accidents with “only females” got the highest coverage, with almost 34% more words per article than “only males”. Professional drivers/delivery agents got less coverage, and lower-income groups received more. Autos received low media coverage; cars and pedestrians received slightly higher coverage. Articles involving drinking got massive coverage, whereas the crashes without human error received the least. New Delhi and Southeast Delhi articles were the most detailed, whereas North Delhi were the least detailed. <h3>Conclusion</h3> It is apparent from the research that some biases are present in reporting road crashes. It is suggested that the media should prioritise the public health perspective while reporting. This approach can increase general awareness of the issue and lead to a better way of addressing it.