(2013) Is Carnage Worth the Coverage?

NOTE: This isn't a new episode! This is the second of 18 old episodes we recorded between 2013 and 2016 when the BikePortland Podcast was co-hosted by Jonathan Maus (@jonathan_maus), Lillian Karabaic (@anomalily), and Michael Andersen (@andersem).

___

Two months ago, after returning from Amsterdam, Jonathan kicked off what he described as a “mini advocacy campaign” by BikePortland to raise awareness of the traffic carnage on our streets.

This is a delicate line for our news operation to walk. People read posts about crashes because they find them relevant, but they’re the opposite of enjoyable to read. We received emails and comments from people who thought covering collisions too closely was sensationalism and would only scare people away from riding. Also, there’s a widespread misperception among non-bikers that, hour-for-hour, biking is a generally dangerous way to get around. It isn’t. (See p. 27 of this PDF for Portland’s latest numbers.)

But carnage ruins lives, and coverage of carnage helps fix streets. So we write about it.

This month, podcast producer Lillian Karabaic, Jonathan and I devoted the full half-hour of our monthly podcast to discussing this decision and the factors around it.

___

>> Find more episodes and subscription links at BikePortland.org/podcast