Media Framing of Fatal Bicycle Crashes in Hillsborough County: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Cutr,

doi:10.5038/cutr-nctr-rr-2018-01

Cited by 4 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In 55 of 189 sources, the motorist was replaced at least once with the word “truck” (usually multiple times within a source), totaling 111 references to the vehicle as an agent in bicyclists’ deaths. The following are examples of this: When a bicyclist died Nov. 1 on Fowler Avenue, investigators said a pickup truck entered a triangular safety zone and collided with the bike ( 9 ). Boger was standing with his bicycle on the corner of Waters Avenue and Florida Mining Boulevard at 2:14 p.m. when a Mack truck made a sharp right turn and hit Boger, deputies said ( 9 ). When Campbell started to cross the road, her bicycle went into the path of the truck ( 9 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When a bicyclist died Nov. 1 on Fowler Avenue, investigators said a pickup truck entered a triangular safety zone and collided with the bike ( 9 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Boger was standing with his bicycle on the corner of Waters Avenue and Florida Mining Boulevard at 2:14 p.m. when a Mack truck made a sharp right turn and hit Boger, deputies said ( 9 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to the 55 trucks that are given agency in the dataset, cars are also agents in 50 additional articles and the word “car” is referenced a total of 138 times: Teen on bicycle killed after being hit by car in Apollo Beach: A 13-year-old riding a tricycle died Saturday (Aug. 12 ) night when hit by a car, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said ( 9 ). The sheriff’s office reports that the first boy, 12-year-old Mitchell Bowers, died Tuesday evening. He had been riding in the bicycle lane when he reportedly turned left in front of a car and was hit ( 9 ). Bryan Lebron Jr., 11, of South Tampa, died Wednesday afternoon after he was struck by a car at South Dale Mabry Highway and Bay Avenue ( 9 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because the study centers on language used in media reporting, the results section includes multiple excerpts from the articles in the dataset. These articles are cited in a report prepared by the Center of Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida, “Media Framing of Fatal Bicycle Crashes in Hillsborough County: A Critical Discourse Analysis” ( 9 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Framing the Bicyclist: A Qualitative Study of Media Discourse about Fatal Bicycle Crashes

Scheffels

Bond

Monteagut

2019

Transportation Research Record

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This research examines the linguistic choices that frame relationships between bicyclists and other parties involved in fatal crash events. Textual data were collected from media reports of all bicyclist traffic fatalities that occurred from January 2009 through June 2018 in Hillsborough County, Florida, which has a disproportionately high number of bicyclist deaths compared with other areas of the U.S. The media reports were coded with a qualitative data analysis software and analyzed using critical discourse analysis (CDA), a rigorous qualitative method used to analyze oral and written communication developed by Fairclough. Through CDA, the study examines how linguistic choices produce meaning and reinforce the “common sense” or “taken-for-granted” lexicon of transportation. Results show the majority of news reports were episodic rather than thematic, focusing on the traffic event and the parties involved in the crash, particularly the bicyclist. Vocabulary, grammatical structure, and narrative framing of news reports largely functioned to remove blame from the motorist and to highlight the bicyclist’s actions. These linguistic strategies reflect the assumption that responsibility for safety rests on the bicyclist and detracts attention from potential social policy reform that would lead to fewer bicyclist fatalities. A minority of articles written with thematic frames focused on broader issues such as social capital, safety education, and advocacy. This interdisciplinary study is a unique contribution to transportation literature, employing a methodology typically reserved for communication scholars and linguists.

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Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When a bicyclist died Nov. 1 on Fowler Avenue, investigators said a pickup truck entered a triangular safety zone and collided with the bike ( 9 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Boger was standing with his bicycle on the corner of Waters Avenue and Florida Mining Boulevard at 2:14 p.m. when a Mack truck made a sharp right turn and hit Boger, deputies said ( 9 ).…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Framing the Bicyclist: A Qualitative Study of Media Discourse about Fatal Bicycle Crashes

Scheffels

Bond

Monteagut

2019

Transportation Research Record

Self Cite

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Rogue drivers, typical cyclists, and tragic pedestrians: a Critical Discourse Analysis of media reporting of fatal road traffic collisions

Fevyer

Aldred

2022

Mobilities

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Editorial Patterns in Bicyclist and Pedestrian Crash Reporting

Ralph¹,

Iacobucci²,

Thigpen

et al. 2019

Transportation Research Record

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The World Health Organization characterizes traffic deaths as a preventable health epidemic. Despite the scale of the problem, this issue has not led to a concerted call to action. Why not? The field of media studies offers potential insight. Not only does media coverage help determine which issues merit attention, coverage also shapes how issues are framed. The aim of this paper is to examine local news coverage of vehicle crashes involving someone walking or biking. To that end, this paper used content analysis of 200 local news articles to answer the research questions: (1) How do articles apportion blame between vulnerable road users (VRUs) and drivers?; (2) To what extent do articles frame crashes as a public health issue? The results reveal that local news coverage tends to shift blame toward VRUs and away from drivers. Coverage almost always treats crashes as isolated incidents, obscuring the public health nature of the problem. This pattern of coverage likely contributes to the limited public outcry about pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities. Journalists can counteract these patterns by subtly altering their coverage. Planners can assist these efforts by making their expertise readily available to journalists. These simple changes would help the public identify links between seemingly isolated events and increase public pressure to reduce road deaths.

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Media Framing of Fatal Bicycle Crashes in Hillsborough County: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Framing the Bicyclist: A Qualitative Study of Media Discourse about Fatal Bicycle Crashes

Framing the Bicyclist: A Qualitative Study of Media Discourse about Fatal Bicycle Crashes

Rogue drivers, typical cyclists, and tragic pedestrians: a Critical Discourse Analysis of media reporting of fatal road traffic collisions

Editorial Patterns in Bicyclist and Pedestrian Crash Reporting

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