Resource Tag: MEDIA GUIDELINES

Background: Little is known about the quality of media reports on suicide and prevention targeting persons with sexual or gender minority identities (LGBTQ+). Aims: To assess the quality of suicide-related media reporting of LGBTQ+ people and its consistency with media guidelines. Method: We conducted a content analysis of 5,652 media items in two US states […]

Background: Between April 7 and 14, 2019, the “Breaking the Silence” media engagement campaign was launched in Oregon. Aims: We aimed to assess the consistency of media content related to the campaign with media guidelines and the quantitative footprint on Twitter (now X) over time. Method: Media items related to the campaign were analyzed regarding […]

Background: Different words used for suicide (so-called suicide referents) have different moral connotations, and neutral referents are recommended in media reporting guidelines. Aims: To assess how different referents in media reports are related to actual suicides. Method: Austrian news articles for each month between 2000 and 2021 (n = 276 months) were obtained from the Austrian Press Agency. Time series were […]

Objective: Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, and media publicity plays a role in suicide rates. The United States offers guidelines for the reporting of suicide. This study evaluated guideline adherence in newspaper and newswire publications covering celebrity suicide deaths. The research also assessed whether the sensationalism of article headlines could […]

Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. Journalistic reporting guidelines were created to curb the impact of unsafe reporting; however, how suicide is framed in news reports may differ by important characteristics such as the circumstances and the decedent’s gender. Objective: This study aimed to examine the degree to which news media reports […]

Background Firearm violence is an intensifying public health problem in the United States. News reports shape the way the public and policy makers understand and respond to health threats, including firearm violence. To better understand how firearm violence is communicated to the public, we aimed to determine the extent to which firearm violence is framed […]

Suicide-related media content has preventive or harmful effects depending on the specific content. Proactive media screening for suicide prevention is hampered by the scarcity of machine learning approaches to detect specific characteristics in news reports. This study applied machine learning to label large quantities of broadcast (TV and radio) media data according to media recommendations […]

#ChatSafe is an internationally renowned suicide prevention program that aims to empower and equip young people to communicate safely online about self-harm and suicide on social media and other digital platforms and empower their parents or caregivers to support them in communicating safely. These are the world’s first evidence-based guidelines are designed to support safe […]

Background: Different words used for suicide (so-called suicide referents) have different moral connotations, and neutral referents are recommended in media reporting guidelines. Aims: To assess how different referents in media reports are related to actual suicides. Method: Austrian news articles for each month between 2000 and 2021 (n = 276 months) were obtained from the Austrian Press Agency. Time series were […]

In late April 2023, the international media broke the story of the arrest and criminal charges against Kenneth Law, a Canadian man accused of sending a deadly substance to a number of individuals across Canada and internationally (Miller, 2023; Peel Regional Police, 2023). This is a newsworthy story and one that deserves coverage. However, it also […]

Objective: Coverage and public communication about suicide represent a major public health concern given the potential for identification and imitation. Yet when celebrities survive a suicidal crisis, it presents an opportunity to model adaptive coping. Tennis star Jelena Dokic’s June 2022 Instagram post recounting her experience overcoming suicidal thoughts represents a unique natural experiment to […]

Objective Responsible media reporting is an accepted strategy for preventing suicide. In 2015, suicide prevention experts launched a media engagement initiative aimed at improving suicide-related reporting in Canada; its impact on media reporting quality and suicide deaths is unknown. Method This pre–post observational study examined changes in reporting characteristics in a random sample of suicide-related […]

Background Media guidelines for reporting on suicide recommend that journalists should avoid monocausal explanations of suicide, but it is unclear if media items with monocausal explanations elicit different effects as compared to multicausal portrayals. Method Using a web-based randomized controlled trial (n = 969), we tested five versions of a news article about the suicide of a […]

Objective. To determine if suicide news reports broadcasted by Peruvian television channels comply with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for reporting suicide news. Materials and methods. Quantitative and descriptive study. The unit of analysis was the suicide news broadcasted by eight Peruvian television channels during the years 2020 and 2021. News were classified into three categories: news […]

Aim: To analyse recommended interventions for the safe and responsible dissemination of suicidal behaviour in the media for preventive purposes. Background: Suicide is a serious public health problem that leads to more than 700,000 deaths per year, which translates into one death every forty seconds. The media play a significant role in shaping public perceptions […]

Numerous studies have been conducted globally to assess the compliance level of newspapers with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) media guidelines for responsible suicide reporting. To identify and review such studies conducted in Muslim-majority countries between 2014 and 2022, we searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases. We identified 12 eligible studies from Pakistan (n=4), Bangladesh […]

Background The nature of newspaper coverage of suicide events can impact suicide risk. Thus, the World Health Organization published recommendations for reporting suicide in the media. To date, Israel has no data regarding adherence to these media guidelines and no indication of the influence of the Israeli National Suicide Prevention Program (NSPP) on adherence. Aiming […]

Objectives: Suicide rates in India are amongst the highest in the world, resulting in an estimated 250,000 suicide deaths annually, and suicide rates in the state of Chhattisgarh are more than double the national average. Responsible media reporting is one of the few  population-level suicide prevention interventions. To inform media interventions, the objective of our […]

There is evidence that media reports about suicide can enhance or weaken suicide prevention efforts. Widely disseminated stories of death by suicide are often followed by more suicides in the population, while stories of overcoming a suicidal crisis can lead to fewer suicides. Media professionals are encouraged to focus on presenting stories of people who […]

Objectives: When journalists report on the details of a suicide, the way that they contextualize the meaning of the event (i.e. the ‘narrative’) can have significant consequences for readers. The ‘Werther’ and ‘Papageno’ narrative effects refer to increases and decreases in suicides across populations following media reports on suicidal acts or mastery of crises, respectively. […]

The Mental Health Media Guide is a groundbreaking and comprehensive resource to help content creators expand positive mental health portrayals. Entertainment media has the power to shift culture around mental health, influencing  audience perceptions and the way we speak up, seek help, and support others.

Background The suicide rate in Korea was the highest among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) for 2013–2016 and 2018–2020. In korea, suicide was the leading cause of death among individuals aged 10–39, and the second leading cause of death for aged 40–59. Thus, this study aimed to examine the […]

The policy brief highlights the role of media in reporting on suicide and its potential impact on suicidal behaviors. It emphasizes that responsible reporting can play a crucial role in suicide prevention by focusing on help-seeking and positive coping strategies. It also highlights the impact of detailed, explicit, sensational, and repetitive reporting on leading to […]