What we are not talking about: An evaluation of prevention messaging in print media reporting on agricultural injuries and fatalities

Background Agricultural injury and fatality pose a significant burden on farmers, families, health care systems, and economies. One way of increasing knowledge of this problem and promoting prevention is the use of printed mass media such as newspapers. Methods We conducted a scan of all media reports contained in the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) archives for the period January, 2007 to September, 2009, inclusive, for injury and fatality and analyzed newspaper articles for prevention messages. Results Of the 409 articles in the database, 392 met the inclusion criteria. Ninety‐three of the articles (24%) contained a prevention message, and 39 (10%) of these were considered to be strong. Urban papers were two times more likely to have a safety message (OR = 2.03) while adult‐related events were less likely to have a safety message included (OR = 0.49). Conclusion Print media reporting of agricultural injury and fatality represents a missed opportunity to provide a prevention message. More can be done to improve linkages between news media outlets and injury prevention specialists to improve prevention content in newsprint. Am. J. Ind. Med. 54:603–608, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.