“It’s a battle for eyeballs and suicide is clickbait”: The media experience of suicide reporting in India

Armstrong, Gregory; Vijayakumar, Lakshmi; Cherian, Anish V.; Krishnaswamy, Kannan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0239280

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…With regards to the impact on media participants, our findings contrasted with those by Collings and Kemp (2010) and Armstrong et al (2020), in that our media participants (especially those without lived experience) did not seem as personally affected (Collings and Kemp, 2010;Armstrong et al, 2020). This may be related to their "journalistic commitment to detachment, impartiality or professional distance" in order to remain professionally objective (Deuze, 2005;Kotišová, 2019;Armstrong et al, 2020). Barnes (2019) described how journalists are required to suppress, fake or enhance emotions during interactions as per media organization rules (Hopper and Huxford, 2015;Barnes, 2019).…”

Section: Impactcontrasting

confidence: 99%

Malaysian Stakeholder Perspectives on Suicide-Related Reporting: Findings From Focus Group Discussions

Ng¹,

Pheh

Panirselvam³

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

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Media guidelines on safe suicide-related reporting are within the suicide prevention armamentarium. However, implementation issues beleaguer real-world practice. This study evaluated the perspectives of the Malaysian media community, persons with lived experience of suicidal behavior (PLE), and mental health professionals (MHP) on suicide-related reporting in terms of the impact, strategies, challenges, and the implementation of guidelines on safe reporting. Three focus group discussions of purposively sampled Malaysian media practitioners (n = 8), PLE (n = 6), and MHP (n = 7) were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded and thematically analyzed. Inclusion criteria were: English fluency, no clinical depression or suicidal ideation (current), no recent previous suicide attempts or suicide bereavement. Three major themes emerged: (1) Unsafe Reporting; (2) Impact; and (3) Safe Reporting. Most described current reporting as unsafe by being potentially triggering to media users and may contribute to contagion effect. Positive impacts identified included raised awareness toward suicide and its prevention. Unsafe reporting was attributed to inadequate awareness, knowledge, and guidance, lack of empathy and accountability, job-related factors, popularity-seeking, lack of monitoring and governance, and information source(s) with unsafe content. Majority agreed on how suicide stories should be framed to produce a safe report. The media community diverged on how detailed a suicide story should be. Safe reporting challenges included difficulties in balancing beneficial versus harmful details, social media ubiquity and its citizen reporters. Participants suggested these safe reporting strategies: stakeholder engagement, educational approaches, improving governance and surveillance, and guidelines revision. Most acknowledged the relevance of guidelines but were unaware of the existence of local guidelines. Implementation challenges included the dilemma in balancing media industry needs vis-à-vis safe reporting requirements, stakeholder engagement difficulties and social media regulation. There is poor awareness regarding safe suicide-related reporting across all groups. PLE and MHP were negatively impacted by current unsafe messaging which aggravated trauma and grief reactions. Postvention support gaps for mental health professionals were highlighted. Safe reporting promotion strategies should include stakeholder engagement to increase awareness on minimizing Werther and maximizing Papageno effects. Strategic re-examination and dissemination of local media guidelines to address new media issues, and effective surveillance mechanisms, are crucial in sustainable improvement of safe reporting practices.

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Section: Impactcontrasting

confidence: 99%

Malaysian Stakeholder Perspectives on Suicide-Related Reporting: Findings From Focus Group Discussions

Ng¹,

Pheh

Panirselvam³

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…We previously reported our findings regarding the newsworthiness of suicide and the processes and challenges involved in covering suicide news. 24 In this paper, we present media professionals perspectives in relation to media’s role in suicide prevention, their recommendations and challenges related to the development and implementation of media guidelines for suicide reporting in India, their beliefs and experiences regarding imitation suicide events and their attitudes in relation to providing contact details for suicide prevention services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several participants offered a reassuring reminder that voluntary changes to media reporting practices were able to be implemented in India in relation to reporting around HIV/AIDS over the past 10–15 years, after a very well-resourced and sustained engagement with media. Nonetheless, we have previously highlighted the intense systemic pressures to report graphically and sensationally on ‘newsworthy’ suicide events, 24 and these systemic issues need to be addressed using a strong collaborative approach rather than a top-down guideline in isolation. Evidence from elsewhere in the world also highlights the challenges in implementing media guidelines, with some media professionals resisting being told how to write their news stories.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We further documented through qualitative interviews that reporters on the crime beat work in close partnership with police to produce routine and simplified incident report style coverage of suicide incidents, and that suicide reports were used as 'clickbait' to generate audience interest. 24 The mass media market in India has observed exponential growth and diversification in the number of mass media outlets since the market was privatised in the late 1990s. 25 While other countries have observed a decline in print media, India has maintained steady annual growth in terms of publications and income.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitations Of This Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indian media professionals’ perspectives regarding the role of media in suicide prevention and receptiveness to media guidelines: a qualitative study

et al. 2021

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ObjectivesCrime reports of suicide incidents routinely feature in the Indian mass media, with minimal coverage of suicide as a broader public health issue. To supplement our recently published content analysis study, we undertook qualitative interviews to examine media professionals' perspectives and experiences in relation to media reporting of suicide-related news in India.Design and settingIn 2017–2018, we undertook semistructured qualitative interviews with media professionals with experience reporting on suicide-related news. A semistructured interview guide was designed to initiate discussions around their perspectives and experiences in relation to reporting on suicide. Interviews were digitally audio-recorded and transcribed, and a deductive and inductive approach to thematic analysis was used.ParticipantsTwenty-eight interviews were undertaken with media professionals in Delhi, Chandigarh and Chennai.ResultsA clear role for media in suicide prevention framed around educating and informing the public was articulated by several participants and a majority of participants also reported concerns and anecdotal accounts that their reporting may negatively influence vulnerable people in the population. Nonetheless, a fatalistic attitude towards suicide was evident among several participants including dismissing or minimising concerns around imitation suicides. Several participants also expressed doubts around the quality of suicide helplines in India and were hesitant to add such contact details to their reports. Participants were largely very receptive to the idea of developing voluntary media guidelines for the Indian context, although doubts were raised around compliance unless additional initiatives were taken to engage media professionals at the highest levels.ConclusionsOur findings reveal the perspectives of media professionals operating in the Indian context and can be used to support constructive partnerships between media professionals and suicide prevention experts. There is a clear need for a genuine and sustained partnership between suicide prevention experts and media professionals at all levels.

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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

Armstrong,

Goyal,

Dhar

et al. 2023

Journal of Affective Disorders Reports

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“It’s a battle for eyeballs and suicide is clickbait”: The media experience of suicide reporting in India

Abstract: Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here:

Cited by 18 publications

References 35 publications

Malaysian Stakeholder Perspectives on Suicide-Related Reporting: Findings From Focus Group Discussions

Malaysian Stakeholder Perspectives on Suicide-Related Reporting: Findings From Focus Group Discussions

Indian media professionals’ perspectives regarding the role of media in suicide prevention and receptiveness to media guidelines: a qualitative study

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

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