The Impact of Hyper Media Coverage on Suicide: New York City, 1910-1920

Whether substantial media coverage of the suicides of ordinary people would bring about an increase in suicide has, to date, been an unanswered question. A time series analyses finds that such spectacular coverage, during 1913-14 in the city of New York, increased suicides. The relationship follows a nonlinear, combined threshold-ceiling effect. It is estimated that the period of “hyper” coverage resulted in an additional 89 suicides in New York City. (19 refs.)