How media can promote safety
Furthermore, highlighting best safety practices will help build a positive work relationship between the media and companies. The media and companies are not enemies. They should see each other as partners who want to see safe workplaces.
This does not mean that the media should only focus on what is good and ignore the bad that companies are doing. What it means is that the media should provide balanced coverage when it comes to safety. This is achievable and beneficial. Some media houses are doing it.
For example BBC provides coverage of great innovations that companies are making in improving processes to make them safer and environmental friendly. At the same time, they give detailed reports of accidents. Some multinational companies with such innovations have presence in Zambia and they have introduced the same best practices in our country.
However, we do not see the media highlighting such exciting developments. Instead of just being interested reporting accidents, the media should be interested in educating the public on safety.
I know some journalists may argue that it is difficult to create content for safety. It is true that finding information for some programmes is easier than others. For example, journalists can easily walk into any clinic or hospital and create health news.
For political news, they know where to find politicians; for sports news, they can go to a football pitch; for entertainment news, they can go to night clubs to meet musicians and for court cases, they can go to courts.
In our country, it appears that it’s easier for journalists to find marriage counsellors or motivational speakers to feature on high various shows than to find safety professionals.
When it comes to safety news, it seems our journalists have reduced safety news to accident news. If no accident occurs, then they will not have something to present as safety news. As a result they wait for an accident to occur for them to go at the accident scene to create safety news.
If they arrive at the accident scene late, they usually find that casualties have been rushed to nearest hospitals. Hence they may return without any footage to show that they went to cover safety news.
In the case where they arrive at the accident scene early, some journalists just get paralysed by what they find. The bleeding casualties and people crying just get them traumatised beyond belief. They become so emotional that they even fail to properly interview casualties, their relatives or the witnesses.
How can a journalist who is so scared of just seeing or smelling blood be able to produce a complete story that will make people feel like they were at the accident scene? An accident scene is full of confusion. Everyone is in a hurry trying to rescue casualties and trying to understand what really happened. At accident scenes, even safety professionals have no time to sensitise the public about safety at that particular time.
Besides they are very careful not to give media statements which they might regret afterwards once thorough investigations are concluded.
Hence they will give you memorised statements like “…..that is why we always advise the public to observe safety.” My point is that we cannot reduce safety news to just covering accidents. People want to know more, not just accidents.
As a journalist don’t just wait for accidents to occur or wait for press statements about safety. Go out and search for exciting safety stories.
Be creative. Just as we see journalists who are passionate about sports and entertainment, we need to see journalists who are passionate about safety.
If journalists never run out of content for programmes about fashion, I am confident that you will not run out of content about safety as long as you are interested in this field. Once you choose this path of promoting safety, you will soon set yourself apart and make a huge impact in society.
Best journalists are not those who do what everybody is doing. Be different and better. Be brave.
Do not be afraid of being a pioneer of new programmes. Outstanding journalists have the ability of turning the most boring story into something exciting which leaves their audiences yearning for more.
For instance some journalists have differentiated themselves as experts in reporting court cases.
The public loves them because they tell the story in simple language for everyone to understand, making people feel like they were together in the court room.
In fact, they simplify the legal language so well that some people prefer listening to them to attending the actual court case because if they attended, they wouldn’t get a single thing from the complicated legal language. Make safety your specialisation. The public is starving for safety information.
People lack safety awareness. As media, you are strategically positioned and you provide the best channel to educate the nation on safety matters.
Lack of safety knowledge is the leading cause of accidents. People will make safe choices when they are empowered with safety information.
I know finding sustainable content for safety maybe a challenge for you.
However, with determination and persistence, you can overcome this challenge. Safety professionals are found in workplaces because that is where accidents happen. Go and find them.
If you need my assistance, please contact me. I serve as Media and Communication Officer for Zambia Occupational Health and Safety which is a registered body for safety professionals. I know of safety professionals who are passionate about educating people on safety. I can connect you to them.
If your goal is safety education, you will easily find a safety professional to speak. But if your goal is “political safety news or commentaries,” you will struggle to find a safety professional to speak. Don’t just report, report safely. Until next week, stay safe. Zambia needs you.
*The author is the CEO of SafetyFocus, a safety company committed to providing safety training and consultancy.
For all your comments, kindly contact the author on cell +260 975 255770 or email: marksucceed@gmail.com