Awhile back, with playground expert Paul Hogan, I surveyed playgrounds all over the Delaware Valley, and could hardly find any safe ones. This suggests that there is a popular fallacy that says when health and safety hazards are exposed, the publicity forces corrective action. Nothing could be further from the truth. And the fact that this fallacy is so commonly accepted means that the public doesn't understand what is necessary to assure proper health and safety protection from government and business. Here are the answers I've come up with after many years of observing attempted reforms.
Real reform requires more than a single shot from the media.
It requires continuing and sustained coverage. That doesn't happen often, as the media quickly tires of most stories and looks for new one. It requires not one major story, but many major stories and constant follow-ups. That is difficult to achieve but would-be reformers have to orchestrate it. It often takes regulatory or other governmental action.