This article is a continuation of our series investigating news media coverage of propeller accidents by using wordles of a collection of news articles about a specific accident. It follows, Phase 1 Breaking News Coverage of Propeller Accidents.

We continue to study news media coverage of the same boat propeller accident, Gabby DeSouza injured by a boat propeller Februrary 5, 2011 near Palm Beach Florida.

This time we analyze a group of news media reports shortly after she had been in the hospital for a month. The five specific articles we used to create the wordle are briefly listed below.

• CBS12. March 8, 2011
• Palm Beach Post News. March 10, 2011
• WPTV. March 10, 2011
• TCPalm. March 11, 2011
• KPLC 7News. March 15, 2011

As mentioned in our Phase 1 post, we would anticipate seeing her name, learning some more about her, some mention of finances, physical therapy, prosthesis, surgeries, her family and her interactions with her friends.

The Propeller Accident News Media Coverage Phase 2 (The Hospital Stay) Wordle is below.

Gabby DeSouza Propeller Accident Hospital Stay Wordle

As would be expected, this time her name is very prominent in the wordle. Other large words (font size indicates frequency of use of the term in the news media coverage of her hospital stay) are leg, go (looking forward to going places), mother, teen, teenage,boat, hospital, beach, shopping (she wants to go shopping again), month (in reference to how long she has been in the hospital, surgeries, right leg, a doctor in charge of her care, 20 surgeries (how many surgeries she has had to date), insurance (similar to many propeller victims she has little or no insurance and huge medical bills).

Noticeably absent, or much less prominent are the law enforcement terms, propeller, and other terms that more prevalent in the Breaking News Reports of her propeller accident.

A closer look at the hospital stay wordle begins to reveal more information about her and her friends: girl, texting, suffered, family, community, mall, recovery, bet friend, amputated, life, friends, pain, memory, tragic moment.

We also see the term “blood”. Her family put out a request encouraging people to give blood so area hospitals would remain prepared for emergencies like hers.

Guanabanas Restaurant is in the wordle. They were part of a fundraising effort to assist with her medical bills. “Prize Raffles” is also mentioned on the wordle. Many rallied to show community support at a time of great financial need.

Our next installment in this series will be Phase 3: Released From the Hospital.