How to cover suicide

This week we are discussing whether or not to and how to publish disturbing news and photos. This reminds me of another challenging issue: the reporting of suicides. As a student majoring in psychology, I’d like to present some ideas from the perspective of suicide research.

Suicide studies have shown that there is a phenomenon called “suicide contagion”. It means when giving attention, especially inappropriate attention, to one suicide, it is very likely to trigger other suicides in the community. Many studies demonstrated that extensive media coverage of a suicide is associated with a significant increase in the suicide rate. One typical case is the suicide of Hong Kong movie/singing star Leslie Cheung. On April 1, 2003, Cheung committed suicide by jumping from a high building. Many Chinese media covered this incident as headline news, providing many details of his suicide location and method. The follow-up coverage about his glorious career and the mourning of the public and fans further dramatized and romanticized his suicide. The dense report lasted for more than a month. In Hong Kong, during the same month, there were a total of 131 suicides, which was a 32% increase from the previous month. In April 2003, 32% of the suicides died from jumping from buildings.

On the other hand, the media can also play a positive role on preventing suicide. When the media covers suicides in an appropriate fashion, they can educate the public about the risk of suicide and change the public’s attitude toward suicide. In 1987, Austrian Association for Suicide Prevention established a media guideline for suicide reporting. After the media implemented the guideline, Austria’s suicide rate decreased 7% within the first year and nearly 20% in the 4-year period. American mental health and media experts are working on forming a national consensus guideline for the coverage of suicides. Here are some interim recommendations:

1) Question if the suicide is newsworthy. Suicide is a common cause of death. Indeed, it account for more teen deaths than all natural causes combined.

2) Do not misrepresent suicide as a mysterious act by an otherwise “healthy” or “high achieving” person.

3) Indicate that suicide is most often a fatal complication of different types of mental illness, many of which are treatable.

4) Do not present suicide as a reasonable way of problem solving.

5) Do not present suicide in a heroic or romantic fashion.

6) Exercise care with pictures of the victim and/or grieving relatives and friends to avoid fostering overidentification with the victim and inadvertently glorifying the death.

7) Avoid providing a detailed description of method and site.

8) Limit the prominence, length, and number of stories about a particular suicide. Avoid front page coverage.

9) Try to oversee headlines. Some responsibly written stories are spoiled by sensational and inappropriate headlines.

10) Provide local treatment resource information.

(Source: Gould, M. S. 2001. Suicide and the Media. Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences, 932, 200-221).

Please see the website of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for more details about how to report suicide.
www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=7852EBBC-9FB2-6691-54125A1AD4221E49