Article Text
Abstract
In order to analyse traffic injury reporting in Ghanaian newspapers and identify opportunities for improving road safety, the content of 240 articles on road traffic injury was reviewed from 2005 to 2006 editions of two state-owned and two privately owned newspapers. The articles comprised reports on vehicle crashes (37%), commentaries (33%), informational pieces (12%), reports on pedestrian injury (10%), and editorials (8%). There was little coverage of pedestrian injuries, which account for half of the traffic fatalities in Ghana, but only 22% of newspaper reports. Only two articles reported on seatbelt use. Reporting patterns were similar between public and private papers, but private papers more commonly recommended government action (50%) than did public papers (32%, p=0.006). It is concluded that Ghanaian papers provide detailed coverage of traffic injury. Areas for improvement include pedestrian injury and attention to preventable risk factors such as road risk factors, seatbelt use, speed control, and alcohol use.
- Traffic injury
- road safety
- restraint use
- prevention of injury
- pedestrian injury
- developing country
- low- and middle-income country
- media reporting
- developing nations
- media
- pedestrian
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Footnotes
Funding This study was funded, in part, by a grant (D43-TW007267) from the Fogarty International Center, US National Institutes of Health and by a grant (R49 CE000197) from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Competing interests None.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.