Newspaper reporting of suicide in Nepal: Quality assessment against World Health Organization media guidelines

Abstract

Background Sensible media reporting of suicide is a population‐based suicide prevention strategy. However, the quality of media reporting of suicide has not been assessed in Nepal. Objectives We aimed to assess the newspaper reporting status of suicide in Nepal with reference to World Health Organization (WHO) media guidelines for suicide reporting. Method We retrospectively searched eight major newspapers in Nepal between January 2020 and May 2021 and assessed 167 news reports against WHO suicide reporting guidelines. Results Potentially harmful characteristics were found to be reported in both the title and main text of the reports. About half of them mentioned sex (48.5%) and 38.3% mentioned the location of suicide in the title. Of the 167 reports, 74.3%, 95.2%, 34.7%, 92.2%, 98.8%, and 52.7% mentioned the name, sex, occupation, method of suicide, the location of suicide, and life events, respectively, in their main content. On the other hand, only 6% and 2.4% of reports mentioned linkage of suicides with mental illness and substance abuse, respectively. While lesser than 1% of reports narrated educative information regarding suicide prevention, none mentioned contact information for help‐seeking for the vulnerable. Conclusion Newspaper reporting of suicide in Nepal poorly adheres to WHO guidelines, substantiated by the high presence of potentially harmful characteristics and negligible presence of potentially helpful characteristics.

Suicidal Behavior in Nepali motion pictures of three decades (1990–2020): A content analysis

“…This can act as a source of discouragement for the stakeholders of the film fraternity to convey messages of suicide‐related awareness and the helplines available in Nepal through motion pictures. Additionally a study conducted in Nepal on the quality of media reporting in newspapers also showed similar results of negligible useful reporting traits that the WHO guideline encourages to follow (Singh et al., 2022 ). These similar depictions and the portrayal of negative aspects, despite the variation of suicidal behavior in the movies, could act as a conduit to influence the general public.…”

“…Research has highlighted the impact that media reporting has on the suicide rates in Nepal while also shown the inadequate receptiveness of World Health Organization (WHO) media reporting guidelines by the Nepalese media portals (printed and online) (Singh et al, 2022).…”

“…Reporting on suicidal behavior in the media and motion pictures in a responsible manner is one of the recognized public health strategies for preventing suicide (Rana, 2022 ). Research has highlighted the impact that media reporting has on the suicide rates in Nepal while also shown the inadequate receptiveness of World Health Organization (WHO) media reporting guidelines by the Nepalese media portals (printed and online) (Singh et al., 2022 ). However, motion pictures in Nepal are not into reflection while considering the content related to the suicidal portrayal.…”

Gender differences in the association between body mass index and recent suicide attempts in Chinese patients with first-episode drug-naïve major depressive disorder

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) ranked MDD as the third leading contributor to global disease burden in 2017, with predictions that it will become second by 2030 2 . At its most severe, depression can lead to suicide, which caused over 700,000 deaths worldwide in 2019, representing approximately 1.3% of all deaths 3 . A previous study reported that 63% of suicide decedents had MDD at the time of death 4 , with a lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts (SA) in people with MDD as high as 23.7% 5 .…”