Suicide in the MediaWorking together

Background – the burden of suicide

Background – The media and public health

MARILYN MONROE FOUNDDEAD IN PROBABLE SUICIDEHIS GENIUS WAS DEFINED

BY IRRATIONALITY- A DIVINE MADNESS…

“….huge intrusion into our grief…”

“They just want their pound of flesh…”

“They didn’t report things accurately.”

“…it had been sensationalised…if I had been more cooperative…it wasn’t that I didn’t want to…it was that I couldn’t cope with it.”

Background – The media and those left behind

Educate and inform◦ Offer helpline info

Method and context◦ Avoid excess detail

Placement and illustration◦ Images of victim

Avoid over simplification

Avoid melodrama of suicide or its aftermath

Aim for sensitive coverage

Good Samaritans Guidelines

To research previous work in this area

To assess the quality of local media reporting against Good Samaritans media guidelines

To assess media reporting in an objective manner to provide recommendations which can be useful to the local media

Aims and Objectives

Literature search of pubmed using terms “suicide” and “media”

Obtained identifiers for suicides occurring over a three year period

Identified relevant media articles using search terms on Google

Method

ResultsSuicides recorded

180

Data available166

Suicides reported83

Total number of articles160

Results: Suicides reported (%)

Not re-

ported50%

Reported50%

Results: Guidelines

Man set himself on fire when relationship ended, inquest hears

Paranoid husband killed his wife and then himself, coroner rules

Police officer committed suicide after sending text to husband instead of lover

Body found in Truro woods where missing Newquay man’s car was found

Flashbacks and work probe behind suicide

Samaritan Guidance No. of articles (%)

Image of victim 71 (44)

Helpline information 4 (3)

Over-simplification 81 (51)

Melodramatic 75 (47)

Tribute 68 (43)

Method in headline 45 (28)

Method in text 106 (66)

Results: Guidelines

Year Context No. of articles

Outcome

2002 Australia 415 Method 30%, image14%,helpline 6.5%

2010 Utah 71 Helpline 6%

2010 Chinese community 2279 Method 81%, image 58%, helpline 9%

2010 USA 157 Method 56%, image 21%, helpline 31%

2011 Bristol time series 427 Helpline 0.5%

2013 Hungary 18 Method 72%, image 56%, helpline 0%

Results: Systematic Review

“…a lot of people went to journalism school because they wanted to help society…”

“…promoting the public good…”

“societal watchdog”

“If I already feel curious – my audience must want to know about it.”

Why report like this?

Three main targets◦ Headlines!◦ Helplines!◦ Headshots!

Method for assessing themes of suicides which are more likely to be reported

Evidence that guidelines decrease rates of suicide limited

Discussion

Suicide a global public health issue

Strong evidence that media reporting can have a negative impact on suicide rates worldwide

Assessment of local media shows some worrying trends

Need to provide support to local media with view to assessing changes at a future date

Conclusions

Thank-you