Different perspectives: A comparison of newspaper articles to medical examiner data in the reporting of violent deaths

Epidemiology and clinical aspects of stray bullet shootings in the United States

“…49 In Utah, where National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) data provided a statewide comparison, newspapers reported on 92% of homicides overall and 100% of homicide-suicides in 2005. 53 Studies of homicide 50,52,53 and suicide 53,54 suggest that the perceived newsworthiness of a violent event strongly influences a media organization's decision whether or not to report it. Unexpected demographics, unusual circumstances, and other stories competing for space may all play a role.…”

“…50 If this were true nationwide, biased reporting could affect our findings on victim demographics. Reporting is much more complete in the other homicide studies and is highest in the one available statewide study, 53 suggesting that the bias found in Los Angeles during the early 1990s may be atypical.…”

Characteristics of Side-by-Side Vehicle Crashes and Related Injuries as Determined Using Newspaper Reports from Nine U.S. States

“…Newspaper reports have been utilized to provide surveillance data on a number of injury-related problems including fires, drowning, farm injuries, motor vehicle crashes, and gun violence [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. From our work with ATVs [19,20], we recognized the difficulty in trying to differentiate off-road vehicles from one another using hospital data, as these vehicles were all designated by the same e-code (supplemental codes in the International Classification of Diseases used by health care providers to classify external causes of injury).…”

Covering Mental Illness

“…They found that "suicides by violent or dramatic methods were considered particularly newsworthy" (281). A study that compared newspaper coverage of violent deaths in Utah for 2005 with medical examiner data on these deaths found that although homicide-suicides accounted for only a small proportion of violent deaths in the state, they received disproportionate newspaper coverage (Genovesi et al 2010).…”

“…The studies by both Pirkis et al (2007) and Genovesi et al (2010) indicate that by presenting an unrealistic picture of suicide, newspaper stories promote inaccurate 810 ROMA SUBRAMANIAN impressions of suicide risk. Further, by their sensationalistic coverage of suicide, such stories may promote copycat suicide behavior.…”