How Bike News Is Framed

bicycle news

If you’re a cycling enthusiast, it’s easy to get a bit overwhelmed trying to keep up with all the latest bike news. Stifle those yawns, there’s plenty to keep your wheels spinning, from new race routes and gear updates to advocacy wins that keep people on bikes.

If someone follows enough bike news, they may start to see a pattern in how it’s framed in both national and local media. When an article on a cyclists’ crash focuses solely on the clothing choices they made, or when a car-driver collision story features the words “cyclist struck by car,” there’s a real risk that readers will perceive cyclists as somehow being a nuisance to society.

But when there’s good news to share about people on bikes, we can be sure that there will be an equally fervent response from the public. In 2021, we’ve seen a lot of great examples of this, from a high-profile victory for the sexiest bike-friendly development in Portland to a huge investment in new protected bicycle lanes on Grattan Street in Melbourne. And of course, we’ve been working hard all year to make sure that people see more positive, humanizing stories about people on bikes in their local media.