title: One side of the story: Examining newspaper coverage of workplace injury and fatality in Ontario, 2007-2012.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  News coverage in popular media can shape public perspectives on occupational issues. Few studies exist concerning how occupational injury and fatality are represented in the news.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study examined how injuries, fatalities and worker characteristics were represented in newspapers compared with official government statistics. It also examined what individuals or organizations were most often included by reporters to provide interpretations of injuries and fatalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Quantitative content analysis was used to examine 304 newspaper articles from between 2007 and 2012 representing the nine most populous cities in the province of Ontario, Canada. Government data came from reports compiled by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) of Ontario.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to workers' compensation board records, physical characteristics of injuries and fatalities were skewed toward the acute traumatic. Women were dramatically underrepresented in newspaper articles. Age distributions were represented. Goods-producing, transportation and resource extraction occupations were overrepresented while services were underrepresented. Worker voices were largely absent in newspaper accounts compared with law enforcement, the State and management.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  How workplace injury and fatality are framed, and who contributes to these frames, serves to shape public interpretations of occupational injury and fatality and how occupational health and safety issues might be addressed in the future.
authors.affiliation: Health Studies Program, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gawley
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Shane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dixon
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000401:mortality; D009864:Ontario; D011639:Public Opinion
keywords: Occupational injury; content analysis; health and safety; media; worker participation