Associations of suicide referents with different moral connotation with actual suicides: Time series analysis

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 […]

The Kenneth Law media event: A dangerous natural experiment

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 […]

Jelena Dokic’s suicide-related social media post and the worldwide media’s portrayal of a story of survival: A natural experiment

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 […]

Changes in media reporting quality and suicides following national media engagement on responsible reporting of suicide in Canada

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 […]

The role of monocausal versus multicausal explanations of suicide in suicide reporting: A randomized controlled trial

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 […]

Suicide news on peruvian television channels: evaluation of compliance with WHO’s reporting recommendations

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 […]

Media exposure of suicidal behaviour: An umbrella review

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 […]

Unveiling shadows: Analyzing suicide reporting in Muslim-majority countries vis-a-vis WHO’s media guidelines

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 […]

Trends in newspaper coverage of suicide in Israel: An 8-year longitudinal study

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 […]

The quality of media reporting of suicide news in a high suicide state of India against World Health Organization guidelines: A content analysis study of major newspapers in Chhattisgarh

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 […]

Preventing suicide: A resource for media professionals. Update 2023

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 […]

Is the narrative the message? The relationship between suicide-related narratives in media reports and subsequent suicides

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. […]

Mental health media guide: The tip sheet

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.

The Werther effect following the suicides of three Korean celebrities (2017–2018): An ecological time‑series study

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 […]

Shaping a lifeline: Harnessing the power of Lebanese media to combat suicide in Lebanon

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 […]

Nigerian newspapers coverage of suicide: Assessment of adherence to WHO suicide reporting guidelines

Context: Despite an increase in research evidence on media compliance with suicide reporting guidelines globally, evidence from Nigeria seems to be relatively limited. Aim: This study assessed the prevalence of World Health Organization (WHO) helpful/harmful suicide reporting cues in suicide stories reported by Nigerian newspapers in 2021. Setting and Design: The setting is the entire […]

Why do we report suicides and how can we facilitate suicide prevention efforts? Perspectives of Hong Kong media professionals

Background: The Hong Kong news media report suicide-related events more frequently and sensationally than Western countries. Little is known about Hong Kong media professionals’ experiences and thoughts about such reporting. Aims: To understand Hong Kong media professionals’ experiences and perceptions of suicide reporting and whether the news media can be better engaged into suicide prevention. Method: We conducted […]

Media guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide: A review of effectiveness

Background: The media have a powerful influence on those at risk of suicide. Evidence linking sensational media reporting with imitative suicidal behavior continues to grow, prompting the widespread development of guidelines for media professionals on the reporting of suicide. While such guidelines have been widely implemented, only a small amount of research has addressed their use […]

Media guidelines in the internet age

In recent years, there has been growing concern over the reporting by the media of those who die by suicide. Recommendations have been proposed by various groups, such as the Centers for Disease Control (1994), the World Health Organization and the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) (WHO & IASP, 2008). In addition, scholarly research has […]

Media representation of gender patterns of suicide in Taiwan

Background: Extensive media reporting of suicide events has been indicated as a contributing factor to the upsurge in suicide rates in Taiwan in the past decade. Aims: The study compares gender differences in sociodemographic profiles and method of suicide selectively reported in the newspapers and all suicide cases registered in official death records. It also identifies gender differences […]

A longitudinal dynamic perspective on quality in journalism: Investigating the long-term macro-level media effect of suicide reporting on suicide rates across a century

Quality of journalism is not a stable phenomenon, yet there is limited longitudinal evidence. We provide a content analysis of news reporting over a whole century within a specific thematic context: suicide reporting. Quality is a key dimension in this context as low-quality reporting is associated with imitative suicides (Werther effect). We took a historical […]

An observational study of suicide-related media reports during the earl months of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic initially raised concerns about increased suicides, particularly due to stressors such as unemployment, financial strain, and social disconnectedness, however data from the earliest months of the pandemic generally showed no increases, including in three Canadian provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba) (see Supplemental file).1,2 Experts have recommended cautious media reporting about the pandemic’s […]

Media coverage and speculation about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide: A content analysis of UK news

Objectives Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been much concern and speculation about rises in suicide rates, despite evidence that suicides did not in fact increase in the first year of the pandemic in most countries with real-time suicide data. This public narrative is potentially harmful, as well as misleading, and is likely […]