Quality of media reporting following a celebrity suicide in India

Abstract

Background Celebrity suicides have the potential to trigger suicide contagion, particularly when media reporting is detailed and imbalanced. We aimed to assess the quality of media reporting of suicide of a popular Indian entertainment celebrity against the World Health Organization (WHO) suicide reporting guidelines. Methods Relevant news articles that reported the actor’s suicide were retrieved from online news portals of regional and English language newspapers and television channels in the immediate week following the event. Deductive content analysis of these articles was done using a pre-designed data extraction form. Results A total of 573 news articles were analyzed. Several breaches of reporting were noted in relation to mentioning the word ‘celebrity’ in the title of report (14.7%), inclusion of the deceased’s photograph (88.5%), detailed descriptions of the method (50.4%) and location of suicide (70.6%); local language newspapers were more culpable than English newspapers. Helpful reporting characteristics such as mentioning warning signs (4.1%), including educational information (2.7%) and suicide support line details (14.0%) were rarely practiced. Conclusion Media reporting of celebrity suicide in India is imbalanced and poorly adherent to suicide reporting recommendations. Local language news reports display more frequent and serious violations in reporting as opposed to English news articles.

Changing trends in quality of media reporting of suicide in the community following a celebrity suicide in India

“…A celebrity suicide is a sensational and newsworthy event which may be leveraged by journalists amid the intense pressure to create commercially competitive content; this assertion is supported by evidence showing sub-optimal adherence to reporting guidelines in media reporting of celebrity suicide, both in India (Menon et al, 2020c) and elsewhere (Carmichael and Whitley, 2019). It is possible that these negative reporting practices may extend beyond celebrity suicide with significant implications for suicidal ideation and behavior in the community.…”

“…Each of the above variables was coded as yes or no based on the presence or absence of the item in the news report. We adopted several methods to enhance rater uniformity during data coding: investigators selected for data coding were part of media reporting studies that used the same reporting checklist and completed in the recent past (Menon et al, 2020c); all of them received an initial video-based orientation session where coding of every item on the WHO checklist was explained by a senior psychiatrist-researcher with prior experience in similar media-based studies (Menon et al, 2020a); and every item in the questionnaire was designed to cover a single theme thereby minimizing the need for complex judgment calls. Finally, to address any queries that emerged during the data coding process, an online group comprising all the senior and junior team members was created.…”

“…Thus far, research into media reporting of celebrity suicide has mostly focussed on the quality and adherence to reporting guidelines (Carmichael and Whitley, 2019; Menon et al, 2020c), impact on subsequent suicidal ideation (Fu and Yip, 2007), behavior (Menon et al, 2020b), rates (Niederkrotenthaler et al, 2012) as well as short-term effects on suicide-related online searches (Ganesh et al, 2020). Celebrity suicide has also been linked to a rise in suicidal behavior in the population both in the short term (Menon et al, 2020b) and long term (Fu and Yip, 2007).…”

Is there any link between celebrity suicide and further suicidal behaviour in India?

“…Responsible and balanced media portrayal of a celebrity suicide, a practice not adhered to in Asia (Menon et al, 2020a(Menon et al, , 2020c, would assist in preventing suicide contagion (Ueda et al, 2014).  Indicated strategies -This includes early identification of risk and close monitoring of vulnerable individuals.…”

“…In case of hanging, suggestions include lowering the height of possible anchor points, installing anti-suicide break-away closet rods and shower curtain rods, and focussing on early warning signs of suicide risk (Baker et al, 2013). Responsible and balanced media portrayal of a celebrity suicide, a practice not adhered to in Asia (Menon et al, 2020a, 2020c), would assist in preventing suicide contagion (Ueda et al, 2014).…”