title: Newspapers: a source for injury surveillance?
abstract: Newspapers have not been extensively evaluated as an injury surveillance source. We compared clippings with medical examiner records for 45 residential fire deaths and 58 drownings of children to assess extent, completeness, and accuracy of newspaper coverage. Newspapers covered 96% of the fire fatalities and 78% of the drownings and contained more information than medical examiner records on several factors, including fire cause and smoke detector presence, pool fences, warning signs, and supervision of children.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Rainey
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Runyan
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004332:Drowning / Q000401:mortality*; D005390:Fires / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology