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.

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.