Newspapers Can Do More to Change Public Perception of Suicide, Report Suggests

Regional and national newspapers in the United States are falling short of meeting guidelines for reporting on suicide deaths, suggests areport inJAMA Network Open. An analysis of coverage following the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain in June 2018 in print newspapers with a minimum circulation of 200,000 shows that the publications adhered to only about half of the national recommendations for reporting on suicide, such as avoiding details of lethal means or use of a sensational headline.“News media coverage of suicide is associated with an increased risk of subsequent suicides, with the strongest associations following newspaper reporting of celebrity suicides,” wrote Arielle H. Sheftall, Ph.D., of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and colleagues. To educate the med ia about these risks, leading experts in suicide prevention, public health, and media from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Annenberg Public Policy Center, Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, government agencies, and more in 2001 published the guideline “Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide. ”“Risk of additional suicides increases when the story explicitly describes the suicide method, uses dramatic/graphic headlines or images, and repeated/extensive coverage sensationalizes or glamorizes a death,” according to this document. “Covering suicide carefully, even briefly, can change pu blic misperceptions and correct myths, which can encourage those who...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Anthony Bourdain Arielle H. Sheftall JAMA Network Open Kate Spade media newspaper Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide Source Type: research