L.M.
Redfield and D.E.
Baker
NIOSH Education and Information Division
Most
people read newspapers and magazines or listen to radio or
television on a daily basis. Using these media to deliver
safety and health messages is an effective and relatively
inexpensive way to reach a mass audience.
The
Extension Safety and Health Program, sponsored by the University
of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and NIOSH, has worked successfully
with a variety of media to educate the public about safety
and health concerns.
Between
July and September, 1993, Project staff cooperated with MU's
Extension and Agricultural Information Office on ten flood-related
news releases, eight radio interviews, one television interview
and a video. Clips of these stories were recorded and staff
found that the releases were used by about 100 newspapers
and dozens of radio and television stations, with an estimated
audience of more than 1 million.
Between
September, 1993, and June 24, 1994, Project staff produced
25 news releases, each of which were sent to more than 150
newspapers, magazines, television stations and radio stations
in Missouri as well as the Associated Press.
MU's
Extension and Agricultural Information Office has tracked
the use of news releases distributed by the University of
Missouri system as a whole by logging the clips of each story
which are found by the Missouri Press Association. Staff found
that safety and health articles are very popular with both
urban and rural media.
Project
staff also produce the Extension Safety and Health Network
newsletter, a bimonthly newsletter. It is distributed to every
county extension office in Missouri, 400 members of the Western
Dealer's Association, and the Missouri Department of Health.
Like the news releases, the newsletter encompasses a variety
of safety and health topics. Articles from the newsletter
have appeared in several newspapers.
Staff
also cooperate with MU's Newsbites, a 1-800 service radio
stations can call to listen to recorded interviews with staff
and faculty. Project staff have worked closely with Steve
Banning, the director of radio for the University of Missouri
System. Staff have given more than twenty non-flood safety
and health interviews for Newsbites. Banning tracks how many
times each story is selected from the menu. He expects successful
stories to be selected at least ten times. Safety and health
stories released so far have been selected between 11 and
27 times, with an average use by 16.7 stations.
Disclaimer
and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears by permission
of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
L.M.
Redfield and D.E. Baker, University of Missouri, Columbia,
MO.
|