OTHER FACTORS TO KEEP IN MIND

Accidents are caused by various circumstances. The major causes for most accidents are human error, mechanical failure, disturbances of nature and "acts of God."

When a pilot misjudges the plane's altitude, attitude or airspeed and crashes upon the deck of an aircraft carrier, the accident is due to human error.

If a hydraulic catapult aboard the same carrier explodes and kills several aviation boatswain's mates, the cause of the accident might be mechanical failure.

If the same ship were battered about in a violent storm at sea, and several crew members were injured when they were thrown out of their bunks, the accident could be blamed on disturbances of nature.

Finally, there are accidents that cannot be attributed to any of the above causes, and therefore, are classified under "acts of God." Note the following example: A bee stings the coxswain of a motor launch, causing him to lose his footing, fall overboard and drown.

When an accident occurs in the Navy and an account of it gets into the newspaper, the reader automatically looks for someone or something to blame. The reader often forgets that circumstances as well as persons and things cause accidents.

In writing an accident story, the Navy journalist should attempt to explain these circumstances. With proper handling, an accident story may result in better understanding and appreciation by the public of the everyday hazards Navy personnel face.

Take, for example, an aircraft accident in which the pilot manages to parachute to safety just moments before his plane crashes into an isolated field. Regardless of the fact nobody was hurt and there was no private property damage, many readers will approach the facts with a negative point of view. Unless told differently, they will think about the story in terms of carelessness" or "negligence." Either the pilot did not know how to handle the plane, or the ground crew did not adequately prepare it for flight. These are typical reactions.

What the reader does not know, however, is that the plane might have suffered a flame-out over a heavily populated city. To protect the lives of people below, the pilot may have decided to stick with the disabled plane until it reached an unpopulated area. In doing this, the pilot jeopardized his own chances for survival.

The reader never learns these facts unless they are mentioned in the story. Decisions and actions such as these should not be included just in the story; they should be featured in the lead. It is your responsibility to have the common sense and ability to recognize these facts and play them up accordingly.

In another story, a sailor is killed in an auto accident. There is nothing unusual or spectacular about it. Nobody else is involved. The driver was killed when the car blew a tire on a sharp curve, veered out of control and smashed into a utility pole. Circumstances caused the accident.

Yet, when the story is published, a civilian reader may think - "Well, another one of those sailors from the base killed himself today. I wish something would be done about their reckless driving habits. It is not safe to drive the highways anymore."

In a story of this type, the circumstances should be carefully explained. It might also be pointed out in the story that this was the first auto accident in which a sailor was involved in five or six months, if that is the case.

Try to wrap up your story with some positive information.

It must be emphasized, however, that under no circumstances should facts be distorted or sugar-coated to put an accident in a favorable light. If mitigating circumstances exist, they should be reported. If they do not exist, tell the story straight and stick to the facts. You should strive to treat all stories as impartially and as objectively as possible. Never give a newspaper, or any other medium for that matter, less than your best effort.