Different perspectives: A comparison of newspaper articles to medical examiner data in the reporting of violent deaths

Partially presented at the American Public Heath Association 135th Annual Meeting, November 2007, Washington, DC
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2009.09.006Get rights and content

Abstract

This study compared violent death information reported in state-wide newspaper articles to the medical examiner reports collected for a state public health surveillance system—the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). While suicides accounted for 83% of deaths in the NVDRS database, more than three-quarters (79%) of violent deaths reported in newspaper articles were homicides. The majority of the suicide incidents were reported in 1–2 newspaper articles whereas the majority of homicide incidents were reported in 11–34 articles. For suicide incidents, the NVDRS reported more circumstances related to mental health problems while newspaper articles reported recent crisis more often. Results show that there is a mismatch in both frequency and type of information reported between a public health surveillance system (NVDRS) and newspaper reporting of violent deaths. As a result of these findings, scientists and other public health professionals may want to engage in media advocacy to provide newspaper reporters with timely and important health information related to the prevention and intervention of violent deaths in their community.

Introduction

Approximately 50,000 violent deaths occur in the U.S. each year with suicides accounting for approximately 32,000 deaths and homicides accounting for approximately 18,000 deaths (Barber et al., 2000, NCHS, 2005). Despite this difference in the number of types of violent deaths, several studies suggest that crime, violence, and homicide are viewed by the general public as leading community problems rather than suicide (Chadee and Ditton, 2005, Coleman and Thorson, 2002, Marsh, 1991, Paulsen, 2003). Various reasons are possible for this discrepancy, including the role of print media, newspapers in particular, in providing information on violent deaths to the general public.

In the U.S., most people obtain information about violent deaths that occur in their community and nationally from television, newspaper reporting, and radio. One of the popular media sources still used by much of the country is newspapers (Newspaper Association of America, 1998, Saad, 2007). According to a 2007 Gallup Poll, local newspapers are the second most common source of news after broadcast news (Saad, 2007). More than half of the Americans who acquire their news via newspapers do so daily to several times a week (Newspaper Association of America, 1998, Saad, 2007). As a result, newspapers are an important media influence that can shape and direct public perceptions regarding violent deaths.

A public health surveillance system is designed to systematically collect, interpret, and disseminate information on health-related events to reduce morbidity and mortality (Koo, 2008). Scientists and other public health professionals are trained to present violent deaths in terms of risk factors and prevention strategies, to educate the public about the public health aspects associated with an event. In contrast, the role of newspapers is to report the news to the public within moments of an event occurring or immediately following the event when not all of the facts may be known (Johnstone et al., 1994, Marsh, 1991). Newspaper reporters are trained to present news in terms of compelling individual stories (Johnstone et al., 1994, Marsh, 1991).

In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a surveillance system for violent deaths called the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). The objective of the NVDRS is to collect detailed data on all violent deaths from four primary official sources of data (medical examiner, death certificates, police, and crime laboratory) on a state level and aggregate the data on a national level. The NVDRS aims to provide accurate and timely data on violent deaths. Seventeen states currently participate in the NVDRS program. This surveillance system was designed to aid states in identifying circumstances and other important information surrounding the deaths, planning preventions and interventions, implementing policy changes, and building alliances between stakeholders (Campbell et al., 2006, Paulozzi et al., 2004, Powell et al., 2006, Steenkamp et al., 2006).

By comparing how violent death is represented in local newspapers as opposed to a state public health surveillance system, we may find areas of similarities and differences to begin understanding public perception versus scientific perception as related to violent deaths, particularly suicide and homicide. Thus, we wanted to compare the type and nature of suicides and homicides included in the NVDRS to what is reported in newspaper articles regarding these violent deaths. In general, scientists are more likely to gather information regarding suicide and homicide from official data sources such as the NVDRS. However, the general public is more likely to gather information regarding violent deaths from newspapers and broadcast news. Scientists and public health professionals who use the NVDRS data may not be aware of the expectations of the general public or how to communicate with the public regarding community needs related to the prevention of violent deaths. Public awareness of the extent of violent deaths in the community and how this awareness affects public health issues remains a concern for scientists, advocates, and other public health professionals.

Section snippets

Data sources

Our study identified violent deaths occurring in Utah for 2005 from the NVDRS. The NVDRS defines a violent death as a death that results from the “intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group or community” (Gerberding et al., 2003, p. 5). In the NVDRS system, violent deaths include suicides, homicides, homicide/suicides (i.e., an incident involving the homicide of an individual and then the suspect committing suicide as a result),

Violent death occurrence in the NVDRS versus newspaper articles

The NVDRS system reported 416 deaths resulting from suicide, homicide, and homicide/suicide incidents in 2005. We linked 653 newspaper articles to 105 (a quarter) of the NVDRS deaths. Fig. 1 is the distribution for the total number of violent deaths in the NVDRS; Fig. 2 is the distribution for the total number of articles reporting the 105 NVDRS deaths. These figures show that there is a mismatch between the information in a public health surveillance database compared to newspaper articles.

Discussion

Our study has three main findings. (1) While suicides accounted for more than three-quarters (83%) of the 416 violent deaths captured by the NVDRS, a public health surveillance system, homicides and homicide/suicides accounted for more than three-quarters (89%) of the 653 newspaper articles reporting violent deaths. (2) The reporting of circumstances related to suicide varied by source but less so for homicide. For suicides, the NVDRS listed more circumstances related to mental health problems

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Anna Fondario, MPH and Larry Cook, PhD for their review of the manuscript and insightful feedback prior to submission.

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    This work was partially supported by the Utah Violent Death Reporting System (UTVDRS) project which is supported by Grant No. U17/CCU824127 awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the Utah Department of Health or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    1

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