WHO trains journalists to reshape street security information protection in Latin America

“Journalists in Brazil are just starting to open their eyes to issues of safe and sustainable mobility Workshops like this help push that forward,” mentioned Flavia Peixoto, a journalist with Brazil’s public information company, to 21 Latin-American reporters at a WHO-hosted workshop held on July 22-23 in Natal, Brazil.

News experiences affect public opinion and coverage decisions and the journalists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico are studying to dig deeper into the hidden causes of deadly street crashes and analyse responses to a disaster that claims practically 1.2 million lives yearly. 

The workshop contains classes on the science behind street security, street security progress within the Americas, bike security, emergency care and a subject journey hosted by the Natal metropolis authorities. Participants from earlier workshops additionally share their experiences together with sensible workouts. 

“The media is key to holding leaders to account, sharing facts and driving demand for change. This is about giving journalists the evidence, tools and know-how to cover road safety comprehensively. Safe, equitable and sustainable mobility saves lives but it also powers health and prosperity and helps fight climate change,” says Dr Nhan Tran, Head of Safety and Mobility at WHO. 

 Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the workshop is a part of the Road Safety Reporting Initiative, which helps journalists inform higher tales to assist cut back street deaths. In latest years, reporters educated by the initiative have gained journalism awards in Ghana, India, Nigeria and Viet Nam. 

The scale of street visitors accidents

Road crashes declare greater than two lives per minute and kill much more folks every year than armed battle and terrorism mixed. Yet public clamour for change barely registers when in comparison with points that lead world information bulletins every day. 

In the WHO Region of the Americas, crashes kill round 145 000 folks every year. Yet that is “Just the tip of the iceberg, with many more seriously injured and a lasting, damaging impact on families, communities, the health sector and the economy,” says Dr Ricardo Perez Nunez, WHO Regional Advisor on street security and harm prevention for the Americas. 

“If these deaths were caused by a virus, it would be called a pandemic, and the world would scramble to develop vaccines. Reducing road deaths has long been misunderstood. …We know how to prevent these tragedies,” wrote WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a latest editorial.

Small modifications, large impression 

During the workshop, journalist Flavia Peixoto shares classes from producing a documentary on mobility that was a runner-up in a nationwide journalism competitors, after a earlier WHO coaching. 

“I interviewed a mother who lost her son in a crash. She said she doesn’t ever want to hear the word ‘accident’ again,” Peixoto says. 

Most information experiences body crashes as remoted and unavoidable “accidents” somewhat than a part of a preventable, society-wide public well being disaster with advanced causes, results and options. 

News experiences usually blame victims or different street customers for deadly crashes. This is regardless of proof that much less apparent and systemic components can usually imply the distinction between life or demise in a crash.

“Journalists must highlight the complex nature of the issue, including street planning, infrastructure, laws, education and regulation. We should aim for human-centered stories that place crashes in a broader road safety context,“ says Brazilian journalist Vinicius Lisboa. 

Solving this can be as simple as adding a few lines of context, substituting the word “accident” and avoiding implying that victims are guilty in brief, pressing ‘hard news’ experiences on street crashes.  

Sharing options

The options journalism strategy to reporting shifts the main focus of stories tales from points to responses. 

“This is not hype, advocacy or propaganda. Solutions journalism is about rigorous, evidence-based and impartial analysis of responses to complex,” says Matthew Taylor, a marketing consultant who manages the street security reporting initiative for WHO. 

“It’s about what we can learn, and for road safety that is crucial because many countries have valuable lessons to share,” he says in a session supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. 

People will all the time make errors on the roads, however we’ve got confirmed options that guarantee our transport methods can take in these errors in a approach that considerably reduces the danger of demise. 

As a part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, the world has set an formidable objective of halving street deaths by 2030. 

Key to assembly this objective is the choice to design and develop transport methods for folks – not for motor autos – and to make security paramount in all choices. 

The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety presents a blueprint for governments to spice up street security by making use of the secure methods strategy the place all actors work collectively in a coordinated approach. 

“Solutions journalism shares what works, what doesn’t and why,” says Taylor. “This has led to a range of comparative stories that share knowledge between communities and countries. It maintains journalistic integrity, but it also shares solutions that others can learn from and apply.” 

“I took away valuable tools and guidelines for communicating responsibly on the road safety crisis in Latin America,” says Juan Diego, a workshop participant and journalist with Colombia’s El Espectador.

“I now better understand how to translate data into stories that mobilize opinion and contribute to an urgent conversation that must involve all sectors of society.”