Download Suicide in the Media

Working together
HIS GENIUS WAS DEFINED
BY IRRATIONALITY- A DIVINE MADNESS…
MARILYN MONROE FOUND
DEAD IN PROBABLE SUICIDE
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“….huge intrusion into our grief…”
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“They just want their pound of flesh…”
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“They didn’t report things accurately.”
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“…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.”
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Educate and inform
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◦ Offer helpline info
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Method and context
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◦ Avoid excess detail
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Placement and
illustration
◦ Images of victim
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Avoid over
simplification
Avoid melodrama
of suicide or its
aftermath
Aim for sensitive
coverage
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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
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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
Suicides recorded
180
Data available
166
Suicides reported
83
Total number of articles
160
Not
Reported
reported
50%
50%
Body found in Truro woods where missing Newquay man’s car was found
Flashbacks and work probe behind suicide
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
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)
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%
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“…a lot of people went to journalism school
because they wanted to help society…”
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“…promoting the public good…”
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“societal watchdog”
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“If I already feel curious – my audience must
want to know about it.”
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Three main targets
◦ Headlines!
◦ Helplines!
◦ Headshots!
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Method for assessing themes of suicides
which are more likely to be reported
Evidence that guidelines decrease rates of
suicide limited
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Suicide a global public health issue
Strong evidence that media reporting can
have a negative impact on suicide rates
worldwide
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Assessment of local media shows some
worrying trends
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Need to provide support to local media with
view to assessing changes at a future date
Thank-you