TKC MUST READ!!! KANSAS CITY BIKE/WALK ACTIVISTS DEMAND MEDIA STOP BLAMING CAR CRASH VICTIMS!!!

The fight for political control of Kansas City streets is in full swing and the latest battle is over language used by reporters.

Whilst the family of crash victims probably find little comfort in civic crusades, activists are using recent tragedies to advance their cause and exert influence over the local discourse.

Overall, journalists across the nation are taking notes on their coverage across the nation . . . A recent example:

Columbia Journalism Review: When covering car crashes, be careful not to blame the victim

Locally, here's a local taxpayer and donation funded group making the case for a change in reporting . . .

Bike/Walk KC: Covering the Crash - Local Media’s Role

Money line . . .

"Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities have been increasing since the end of the Great Recession; pedestrian fatalities tend to affect older people and communities of color; and “victim-blaming” has become a common occurrence by the media when reporting crashes."

The list of demands:

1. Calling the crash an accident (particularly when criminality is a factor)

The Associated Press Stylebook eventually recommended “avoiding the word ‘accident’ in cases where ‘negligence is claimed or proven'” following a successful Twitter campaign.

2. Discussing the victim’s clothing

The message that emerges from coverage like this is pretty clear, as the article states: “If pedestrians follow the rules, they will stay alive. If they die, it’s their fault.”

3. Ignoring street design

Reporters missed a good opportunity to highlight such an issue in a pedestrian crash that claimed the life of Lance Shope in south Kansas City earlier this month. The article only mentions the location and states that the vehicle involved, “was heading westbound when a male pedestrian crossed the roadway and was hit.” This ignores the fact that the intersection in question had no crosswalk for a pedestrian to safely cross.

4. Using the passive voice

Perhaps the most subtle of the mistakes made by news reports on pedestrian crashes is using the passive voice, or saying that a pedestrian was hit or was killed while crossing the street. When reporters do this, they omit the errors of the driver that may have caused the crash.

5. Naming the car, not the driver

“Reporters also tend to write about the car, and not the person behind it. They may even give the vehicle a personality when, in reality, it is just a machine.” Consequently, we tend to assign blame to the vehicle.

Activist qualification of these guidelines that puts the system on trial . . .

"The local press of Kansas City, in both print and television, has been a valuable asset to not only helping to spread BikeWalkKC’s overall message, but also in covering crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians. Nevertheless, we need the press to do more to really help to bring attention not just to the victims of these tragic instances, but the myriad circumstances in the built environment that cause these crashes to happen in the first place."

You decide . . .