This review of media accounts of fatal unintentional child (0–14 years) injury events in New Zealand analysed reports from the country’s four largest newspapers between 2011 and 2015 by reviewing their completeness and potential to deliver evidence-based injury prevention messages. The evaluation considered the article prominence, presence of prevention messages and case ascertainment for the two leading causes of death (2011 to 2013 only). Over the 5-year review period, the researchers identified 242 media accounts detailing 122 fatal child injury events (133 deaths). The most common causes of injury were transport-related (56%) and drownings (21%). Clear prevention messages were found in only 20% (n=49) of accounts. One-third (33%) of accounts included images and two-thirds (66%) were located within the first 3 pages. Case ascertainment in the media accounts was high for the two most common causes of child fatal unintentional injuries reported: it was complete for all transport deaths and all but 1 drowning.
