Newspaper reporting of suicide news in a high suicide burden state in India: Is it compliant with international reporting guidelines?

Menon, Vikas; Mani, A.; Kurian, Neetu; Sahadevan, Sreeja; Sreekumar, Sreeja; Venu, S; Kar, Sujita Kumar; Arafat, S. M. Yasir

doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102647

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…30,33 One of the studies in India also reported the quality of suicide reporting in English newspapers, which focused on preventive aspects with lesser breaching in reporting compared to the regional language. 34 These variations of the results in different studies suggest adhering to WHO suicide media reporting guidelines in both Nepali and English languages news portals in a similar fashion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Singh

Mahato²,

Khadka

et al. 2022

Health Science Reports

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Singh

Mahato²,

Khadka

et al. 2022

Health Science Reports

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“…Heightening the concern, multiple studies have shown that suicide reporting lacks content that sensitises and educates readers about the issue (Jain and Kumar, 2016;Menon et al, 2020Menon et al, , 2021Menon et al, , 2022aKar et al, 2022a,b). Reports often omit critical information such as helpline numbers, the availability of mental health support during crises (Chandra et al, 2014, p. 693;Menon et al, 2022b, p. 3), professional opinions, suicide warning signs (Kar et al, 2022b, p. 4), and suicide-related statistics (Menon et al, 2020(Menon et al, , 2022b.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies have also revealed that suicide reporting often fails to adhere to WHO suicide report guidelines or Press Council of India (PCI)-prescribed guidelines (Chandra et al, 2014;Menon et al, 2020Menon et al, , 2021Kar et al, 2022a). Moreover, there is a lack of systems in place to ensure strict compliance with the framed guidelines (Arafat et al, 2020, p. 21).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, there is a lack of systems in place to ensure strict compliance with the framed guidelines (Arafat et al, 2020, p. 21). Comparative studies have consistently shown that English reporting on suicide is of higher quality compared to its regional counterparts (Jain and Kumar, 2016;Ganesh et al, 2020;Kar et al, 2021;Menon et al, 2021Menon et al, , 2022bRaj et al, 2022).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Dressed like boys, hair trimmed, a nalla kutti otherwise”: construction of queer suicide in Indian online news media

Jetubhai

2024

Front. Sociol.

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Suicide is a significant newsworthy event, and the media often cover cases involving queer individuals. However, there is a notable lack of research on the quality of reporting of queer suicide cases within the Indian context. This article aims to address the existing gap in Indian online news media by investigating the portrayal of queer suicide via content analysis. Content analysis involves qualitatively condensing and interpreting data to extract key consistencies and meanings from a plethora of qualitative material. The newspapers considered span from 2005 to 2022, with data collection conducted in 2023. The author alone identified news articles on queer suicide and conducted the subsequent content analysis. The study reveals that reporting on queer suicide tends to divide queer couples into the gender binary and describes what it deems to be careless sexual conduct driven by obsessive queer love, which, in turn, is blamed for the suicide. Moreover, these reports often do the following: feature families who refuse to accept their children’s identities, adopt dread-filled tones, and cite experts who provide incorrect information while engaging in victim blaming. As a result, the quality of queer suicide reporting in Indian newspapers is deemed substandard and offensive. To address this issue, the study proposes the need for training and curriculum updates in journalistic courses. This way, reporters can develop the skills necessary to sensitively and respectfully report on queer individuals in general and on queer suicide in particular.

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“…Educating the public about suicide is an important aspect of suicide prevention and helps to debunk common public suicide myths and reduce stigmatizing attitudes toward suicidal individuals (Niederkrotenthaler et al, 2014; Till et al, 2018). Content analyses of suicide news reports in different cultures have, however, shown that the recommendation of avoiding monocausal portrayals of suicide is among those that journalists are less likely to adhere to when reporting on suicide, with 30%–50% of analyzed articles containing monocausal explanations for suicide (Menon et al, 2021; Niederkrotenthaler et al, 2010; Sinyor et al, 2018). So far, however, there are no studies available that have explored the impact of media stories about suicide that varied in their portrayal of motives or reasons for suicidal behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Till,

Arendt,

Kirchner

et al. 2023

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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BackgroundMedia 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.MethodUsing a web‐based randomized controlled trial (n = 969), we tested five versions of a news article about the suicide of a teenage girl with varying portrayals of reasons for the suicide: (1) bullying as the sole (external) factor (i.e., monocausal), (2) several external social factors, (3) a combination of internal and external factors, (4) a combination of internal and external factors along with a focus on suicide prevention, or (5) no reason for the suicide (control group). We measured perceptions about the cause of suicide, attitudes toward suicide and suicide prevention, and identification with the suicidal protagonist with questionnaires.ResultsReaders of articles that portrayed suicide as being caused by one specific reason or exclusively social factors tended to adopt these misconceptions. Identification with the suicidal protagonist did not vary between interventions groups, but was lower in the control group.ConclusionHighlighting the multifactorial etiology of suicide in news articles may help to avoid the misconception that suicide is a monocausal issue.

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Newspaper reporting of suicide news in a high suicide burden state in India: Is it compliant with international reporting guidelines?

Cited by 12 publications

References 34 publications

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

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

“Dressed like boys, hair trimmed, a nalla kutti otherwise”: construction of queer suicide in Indian online news media

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

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