The development of a guideline and its impact on the media reporting of suicide

Assessing the Quality of Suicide Reporting in Online Newspapers in Uttar Pradesh, India, According to World Health Organization Guidelines

Background: Sensitive media reporting has an important role in suicide prevention. However, there is no research on the quality of media reporting of suicide in newspapers of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. Aim: The present study aimed to assess the quality of newspaper reports of suicide against the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting guidelines. Method: Suicide news content of four purposively selected newspapers published between March 1, 2019 and February 29, 2020, were scrutinized. A total of 501 news reports from UP were included. Results: The most commonly reported attribute was the gender of the deceased and the method of suicide. Almost half of the newspapers reported the occupation of the deceased in the title. Mental illness was attributed as a cause of suicide among 23.75% of the news reports. Less than 2% of the news reports referred to expert opinion, research evidence, national or global statistics on suicide, suicide prevention measures, or information about suicide helpline. There was a significant difference in the quality of reporting between the vernacular newspapers and English dailies. Limitations: Only four online newspapers were analyzed retrospectively. Conclusion: The quality of media reporting of suicide in UP is found to be poor despite its negative effect on suicide.

Newspaper reporting of suicide news in a high suicide burden state in India: Is it compliant with international reporting guidelines?

BACKGROUND

Mounting evidence points to a substantial link between detailed media portrayals of suicide and imitative suicidal behaviour. We assessed the quality of media reporting of suicide in Kerala, a high suicide burden state in India against the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting guidelines.

METHODS

We conducted a year-round content analysis of all suicide-related news articles in four (two local language and two English) of the most widely read daily newspapers in Kerala. We used a data extraction form, prepared a priori in accordance with the WHO reporting checklist, and coded each item based on the guidelines.

RESULTS

A total of 377 suicide news articles were retrieved. Harmful reporting practices such as reporting the name (93.9 %) and age (93.6 %) of the deceased, method of suicide (93.1 %), location of suicide (88.9 %), monocausal explanations (48.8 %), and including photograph of the deceased (37.7 %) were commonly noted. On the other hand, less than a fifth of articles complied with helpful practices such as including details of suicide support helpline (19.1 %) or a link with mental health issues (14.9 %). Local language newspapers displayed more frequent violations in reporting compared to English newspapers.

CONCLUSION

Media reporting of suicide in Kerala, India is poorly adherent to international reporting guidelines, with very little focus on educating the public. These findings point to the need for framing comprehensive media reporting guidelines for India and a collaborative approach to highlight the primary role of media in suicide prevention efforts.

Suicide Coverage in the Digital Press Media: Adherence to World Health Organization Guidelines and Effectiveness of Different Interventions Aimed at Media Professionals

This study evaluated the characteristics of suicide news articles in the digital press, their adherence to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, and the effectiveness of interventions. We assessed adherence, avoidability, frequency and typology of suicide news over a six-month period in the four main digital media outlets of the Canary Islands (Spain). A brief training and information package intervention to the Canary Islands media outlets was carried out. We compared the quality of media reporting at both the pre-intervention and post-intervention timepoints, and compared the quality of reporting at the post-intervention timepoint in Victoria (Australia), where media interventions have been well-resourced and running for several years. We evaluated 339 suicide news articles: 38 from the pre-intervention period, 64 from the post-intervention period, and 237 from Victoria. News articles showed a very low degree of adherence to WHO recommendations, especially to those recommendations thought to have a protective effect. Post-intervention news articles showed better adherence than pre-intervention ones, but lower than those of Victoria, where constant interventions have been developed for years. We conclude that adherence to WHO recommendations is low. Simple interventions aimed at media professionals can improve adherence. However, constant and complex interventions seem to be more effective.

Fidelity assessment of the suicide reporting guidelines in Korean newspapers

BACKGROUND

With the dishonor of being the highest suicide rated country in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, South Korea should take more initiatives in suicide prevention. Although the role of the media and its relation to actual suicide attempts has been tested and supported by many studies, the suicide reporting guidelines are not well followed. The purpose of this study is to examine how well Korean newspapers adhere to existing guidelines and to suggest limitation and improvements for the current guidelines.

METHODS

Five mainstream newspapers in South Korea, namely, Kyunghyang Shinmun, Hankyoreh, Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Daily, and Dong-A Ilbo, were chosen for the analysis. Using the Naver news search engine, articles dated from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017, were selected with the keyword "suicide" and advanced option "printed newspaper." However, articles, columns, opinions, and reviews that utilized the word "suicide" in a general context were excluded from the final analysis. Finally, the number of cases was narrowed down to 368. Each article was analyzed using the guideline framework consisting of 13 items: sensational coverage, overstatement, direct wording, method used, details about site/location, photographs, suicide note, generalization, speculation, romanticization, interviews with the bereaved, help-seeking information, and public education.

RESULTS

More than 60% of the articles included direct wording (63.9%), mentioned the method used (68.2%), and provided details about the site or location (74.5%). Nearly half of the articles revealed the contents of the suicide note (44.6%). Less than 3% of the suicide reports had information about hotline logo or phone numbers (1.4%) and facts regarding suicide and suicide prevention (2.2%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study revealed that the guidelines were ineffective in their monitoring role and that most of the newspapers were incompliant with many significant guideline items in South Korea. Our findings not only explore the limitations of the current guidelines but also provide an important rationale as to why there should be stronger suicide monitoring regulation or an agency with sufficient authority to prevent suicide in a nation-wide scale.

Is suicide reporting in Indian newspapers responsible? A study from Rajasthan

PURPOSE

Media reporting has consistently been shown to influence suicidal behaviour. Irresponsible reporting by the media can lead to imitative suicidal behaviour. The WHO has delineated guidelines for responsible media reporting of suicide. The study aims to examine whether Indian newspapers adhere to the WHO guidelines and whether there are differences in style of reporting between local and national newspapers and between English and Hindi newspapers.

METHODS

The study was conducted on ten newspaper publications that were circulated in Jaipur, India from 1st October 2014 to 31st December 2014. All ten newspapers were screened daily for news items related to suicide. Each news item so obtained was studied in detail and then rated using a scale developed in India by psychiatrists and journalists. This scale is based on the WHO guidelines.

RESULTS

On an average a newspaper publishes one news item related to suicide every other day. Suicide reporting in Indian newspapers has a strong inclination towards sensationalism. No effort was made to include any educative material the reports. On the positive side most newspapers did not publish the photograph of deceased, or glorify the victims. The newspapers did not try to portray suicide as understandable and were largely neutral in their reporting. The reporting patterns were similar across regional and national newspapers as also across Hindi and English language newspapers.

CONCLUSION

Suicide reporting in India is largely irresponsible and efforts should be made to sensitise media personnel in this regard.

Celebrity suicide and its effect on further media reporting and portrayal of suicide: An exploratory study

BACKGROUND

Suicide is a grave mental health problem in India, and suicide rates in India have risen over the past decades. Suicide reporting by the media is a common cause for spurts of suicides that may occur from time to time. The aim of the present study was to assess the change in trends in media reporting of suicide after a celebrity suicide.

METHODOLOGY

Suicide by the renowned actor Robin Williams was selected as the reference case. The top three Indian daily newspapers published in English having the highest circulation as per the Registrar of Newspapers, Government of India report were selected to be scanned in the study. These were the Times of India - Mumbai edition, Mumbai Mirror, and the Daily News Analysis - Mumbai edition. The authors screened all news stories in the three newspapers within a 6-month period (3 months prior and 3 months post the date of the reference suicide case), and these news reports were evaluated as per the suicide reporting guidelines for media laid down by the Indian Psychiatric Society. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test and descriptive statistics where appropriate.

RESULTS

A total of 708 newspaper articles were identified on the basis of the guidelines mentioned above. Nearly 88% (n = 623) of the articles directly covered suicide while 4.09% (n = 29) focused on suicidal threats and 7.91% (n = 56) focused on parasuicide behavior. There was a significantly greater increase in the total number of articles printed after the celebrity suicide (n = 409) for all article types except teasers as compared to that before the celebrity suicide (n = 299). There was a significantly greater increase in front page news on suicide after the celebrity suicide (P = 0.0016), description of the method of suicide (P = 0.0221), and the mention of the suicide notes (P = 0.0002). Most articles after the celebrity suicide placed the blame on someone or the environment for the act (P = 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

A change in media trend toward reporting suicide was noted post a celebrity suicide, and it is important that media follow guidelines stringently when reporting a serious problem like suicide.

Assessing the Adherence to Guidelines of Media Reporting of Suicide Using a Novel Instrument--the "Risk of Imitative Suicide Scale" (RISc)

Media guidelines for reporting of suicide are considered important in suicide prevention because of the risk of "imitative" suicide. There are currently no established tools for the quantification of quality of reporting. We sought to develop and validate a quality assessment instrument-the Risk of Imitative Suicide Scale (RISc). The RISc appears capable of discriminating reliably between adherent and nonadherent articles. Our data suggest that adherence to guidelines is inconsistent, and there are major differences between web-based and print media. The RISc could be used to evaluate effectiveness and consistency of media engagement with suicide prevention strategies.

Do newspaper reports of suicides comply with standard suicide reporting guidelines? A study from Bangalore, India

BACKGROUND

Several countries have prescribed standard guidelines for media professionals on suicide reporting. However, the implementation of these guidelines has been varied. Suicide rates in South Asia are one of the highest in the world, and it is known that media guidelines for suicide reporting are not followed adequately. However, there are no published reports available from this region.

AIM

This study aimed at assessing newspaper reports of suicide for quality of reporting based on standard reporting guidelines and to study differences between English and vernacular (Kannada) newspapers in Bangalore, South India.

METHODS

A total of 341 newspaper reports of suicide from 550 newspapers (3 English and 3 Kannada) over 3 months were systematically assessed for compliance with reporting guidelines. Each report was evaluated on 2 domains and 36 parameters. Data were analyzed for frequency of inappropriate reporting and patterns compared between vernacular and English newspapers.

RESULTS

In all, 87% of the reports were those of completed suicide. Non-compliant reporting - method of suicide was reported in 89% and 32% of reports were in prominent pages of the newspaper, 95% mentioned gender, 90% reported the name, 80% reported age and suicide location, 75% reported life events related to suicide, 70% reported occupation, 69% had headline explicity on suicide and 61% reported monocausality. Only 16% reported mental disorder related to suicide, and less than 3% included information on suicide prevention and helplines. Vernacular papers showed significantly better compliance in 16 of the 20 areas. However, protective characteristics were better reported in English newspapers.

CONCLUSION

Majority of reports on suicides in newspapers from Bangalore did not comply with standard guidelines of reporting. There is a strong need to evolve local guidelines and mechanisms for ensuring responsible reporting which have important implications in prevention of suicide.

Predicting national suicide numbers with social media data

Suicide is not only an individual phenomenon, but it is also influenced by social and environmental factors. With the high suicide rate and the abundance of social media data in South Korea, we have studied the potential of this new medium for predicting completed suicide at the population level. We tested two social media variables (suicide-related and dysphoria-related weblog entries) along with classical social, economic and meteorological variables as predictors of suicide over 3 years (2008 through 2010). Both social media variables were powerfully associated with suicide frequency. The suicide variable displayed high variability and was reactive to celebrity suicide events, while the dysphoria variable showed longer secular trends, with lower variability. We interpret these as reflections of social affect and social mood, respectively. In the final multivariate model, the two social media variables, especially the dysphoria variable, displaced two classical economic predictors – consumer price index and unemployment rate. The prediction model developed with the 2-year training data set (2008 through 2009) was validated in the data for 2010 and was robust in a sensitivity analysis controlling for celebrity suicide effects. These results indicate that social media data may be of value in national suicide forecasting and prevention.

Suicide: An Indian perspective

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young adults worldwide. There is a growing recognition that prevention strategies need to be tailored to the region-specific demographics of a country and to be implemented in a culturally-sensitive manner. This review explores the historical, epidemiological and demographic factors of suicide in India and examines the strategies aimed at the prevention of suicide. There has been an increase in the rates of suicide in India over the years, although trends of both increases and decline in suicide rates have been present. Distinct from global demographic risk factors, In India, marital status is not necessarily protective and the female: male ratio in the rate of suicide is higher. The motives and modes of suicide are also distinct from western countries. Preventive strategies implemented at a community level and identifying vulnerable individuals maybe more effective than global strategies.