Coverage of commuter and recreational cycling in major Australian newspapers

Abstract

The study examined the framing of commuter and recreational cycling in Australian newspapers between 2010 and 2013. The number of newspaper articles on cycling over the study period increased by over 30% annually. The proportion of positive stories on cycling also increased from 46.2% in 2010 to 67.4% in 2012 before decreasing to 53.9% in 2013. There was a significantly higher proportion of negative stories amongst articles with a focus on cyclists (66.3%) compared to cycling (12.3%). “Cycling crashes” was the most common theme representing 38% of all published stories, followed by “cycling safety” (13.9%) and “cycling infrastructure” (13.1%). While positive coverage of cycling in major Australian newspapers seems to be on the increase, there is still a significant number of negative stories, particularly those reporting cyclist crashes. Building partnerships between cycling safety advocates and media reporters has the potential to improve the coverage of and public perception about cycling.