Stories on car accidents have become a staple of television news. Their significance to most of your viewers should be a cause for concern. How has or will a viewer’s life change as a result of running this story?
How does an accident, even when people are killed, affect 99% of your audience?
The above question is not meant to diminish the pain or suffering of loved ones or close friends.
Rather, it’s directed at the impact on that portion of your audience that far outnumber those who knew the accident participants.
It’s easy to understand why car accident stories are used so frequently:
- Good visuals
- Require only a photog – hopefully frees a reporter to chase another story
- Easy story to cover due to staff cutbacks and limited resources
- News staff lacks creativity to develop other stories
- Assignment desk too reliant on police scanner
- Inertia
Why not ask these questions when determining how relevant these stories are?
- Does the location experience a lot of accidents?
- Has the driver’s age seen a rash of recent accidents?
- Was the accident the result of unusual circumstances?
- Did the accident disrupt traffic patterns for an unusual length of time?
- Could the accident have been prevented?
All of the above give viewers, in addition to immediate family and close friends, valuable information. It puts the incident into perspective and allows viewers to judge its impact on their lives.
Can’t get such information right away? Delay airing the story and produce a followup piece. The story then becomes more than a simple accident item.
A story lacking this information isn’t relevant to the majority of your audience.
Why use it?
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