U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Assessing U.S. Media's Reaction to a Suggested Terminology Shift from "Accident" to "Incident" in News Reports of Childhood Agricultural Injury: A Pilot Study



Details

  • Journal Article:
    Journal of Agromedicine
  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Objectives: This pilot study aimed to: 1) quantify the usage of "accident" and related terms in media articles describing agricultural injuries and fatalities involving children; and 2) assess journalists' reactions to a suggested terminology shift from "accident" to "incident" in recent U.S. news media reports about youth agricultural injuries. Methods: United States (U.S.) news reports covering agricultural injury events were obtained from the AgInjuryNews.org dataset. Quantitative text analysis was performed to identify news articles that mentioned "accident" or related terms (e.g., "accidental," "accidentally") in their title or narrative. Chi-square tests, post-hoc procedures, and univariate logistic regression were used to determine whether and to what extent "accident" and related terms were used to describe youth agricultural injuries. To assess journalists' reactions to using "incident" instead of "accident" when describing youth agricultural injuries, a one-question survey was emailed to authors of news reports. Qualifying articles in the AgInjuryNews.org database were from June 1, 2022, to February 28, 2023, describing an agricultural injury involving victims under the age of 18 and featuring "accident" or its variations. Responses were coded based on sentiment. Results: A total of 3,675 U.S. media reports were included in the quantitative text analysis for aim 1. "Accident" or related terms were used in 66% of the articles about youth agricultural injuries, compared to only 53% for reports about adult agricultural injuries. Agricultural injury events involving youth were more likely to be described using "Accident" or derived terms in U.S. news media than incidents involving adults (odds ratio: 1.73). For the second aim, 31 articles met the inclusion criteria for the journalists' survey. The survey response rate was 39% (n = 12). Of the 12 journalists who responded, 1 disagreed with the proposed terminology shift, 5 were neutral, and 6 were in agreement. Conclusion: The findings from the quantitative text analysis and survey results support the need for additional research and provide evidence to support efforts to create lasting change in the way youth agricultural injury and fatality events are reported by U.S. news media.
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Source:
    J Agromedicine 2025 Oct; 30(4):714-721
  • ISSN:
    1059-924X
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Cooperative Agreement
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    9 pdf pages
  • Volume:
    30
  • Issue:
    4
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20071327
  • Contact Point Address:
    Christopher P. Benny, Medical College of Wisconsin-Central Wisconsin, 1900 Westwood Dr Suite 3100, Wausau, WI 54401, USA
  • Email:
    cbenny@mcw.edu
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2026
  • NORA Priority Area:
    Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
  • Performing Organization:
    Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Start Date:
    20080930
  • End Date:
    20260929
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:1e93c9511be237bd62f787211f75bbc81b286250818e8f65cff6a6d292906f01c298b064660d5f12c673b86ed021d08eac16f3c9978b4486ef9c3ade29db677c
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 787.58 KB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
 Was this page helpful?
 Found an issue?
Send us an email at:
publishinghd@cdc.gov
CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP