Changes in Suicide Reporting Quality and Deaths in Ontario Following Publication of National Media Guidelines
Abstract
Abstract.Background: Media guidelines can influence suicide-related reporting quality and may impact suicide rates. Aim: Our study aimed to investigate the quality of suicide-related reporting after the release of the 2009 Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) guidelines and their impact on suicides. Method: A random sample of suicide-related articles (n = 988) were retrieved from 12 major Canadian print/online publications (2002–2015). Articles were coded for quality of content before and after guidelines release. Suicide mortality data were obtained from Ontario coroner records. Time series analyses were used to identify associations between guideline publication and subsequent suicides. Results: The CPA guidelines were associated with improvements in reporting quality with 10 putatively harmful elements being less frequent after their publication. These included less frequent front-page articles, monocausal (simplistic) explanations for suicide, and depictions of suicide methods. Two putatively protective factors, alternatives to suicide and messages of hope, were twice and four times as common, respectively, after the guidelines. The guidelines were not associated with a change in suicide counts. Limitations: This study could not prove exposure to suicide reporting. Conclusion: Publication of Canadian media guidelines was associated with significant, moderate-sized improvements in reporting quality but not with decreased suicides. The latter finding may reflect only modest dissemination and implementation of the guidelines.
References
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention . (2020). Recommendations for suicide reporting. http://afsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/recommendations.pdf(2012). Media guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide: A review of effectiveness. Crisis, 33(4), 190–198. 10.1027/0227-5910/a000137
Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma . (2014). Mindset reporting on mental health: Covering suicide. https://sites.google.com/a/journalismforum.ca/mindset-mediaguide-ca/mindset-download(2018). Suicide portrayal in the Canadian media: Examining newspaper coverage of the popular Netflix series ‘13 Reasons Why.' BMC Public Health, 18, 1086. 10.1186/s12889-018-5987-3
(2017). Assessing Fidelity to suicide reporting guidelines in Canadian news media: The death of Robin Williams. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie, 62(5), 313–317. 10.1177/0706743715621255
(2011). Media awards for responsible reporting of suicide: Experiences from Australia, Belgium and Denmark. International Journal of Mental Health Systems, 5(1), 15. 10.1186/1752-4458-5-15
(1992). Newspaper reports and suicide. The New England Journal of Medicine, 327(7), 502–503.
(2010). Suicide prevention by limiting access to methods: A review of theory and practice. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 70(10), 1626–1632. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.01.029
(2003). Media contagion and suicide among the young. American Behavioral Scientist, 46(9), 1269–1284. 10.1177/0002764202250670
(2018). Advanced daily prediction model for national suicide numbers with social media data. Psychiatry Investigation, 15(4), 344–354. 10.30773/pi.2017.10.15
(2000). An exercise in improving suicide reporting in print media. Crisis, 21(2), 71–79. 10.1027//0227-5910.21.2.71
(2009). Media guidelines for reporting suicide. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 5(Suppl), 1–5.
(2012). Changes in suicide rates following media reports on celebrity suicide: A meta-analysis. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 66(11), 1037–1042. 10.1136/jech-2011-200707
(2007). Assessing the impact of media guidelines for reporting on suicides in Austria: Interrupted time series analysis. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 41(5), 419–428. 10.1080/00048670701266680
(2010). Role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide: Werther v. Papageno effects. The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science, 197(3), 234–243. 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.074633
(2009, Sept 17). Burying the story won't stop suicide. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/burying-the-story-wont-stop-suicide/article790267/
(2006a). The relationship between media reporting of suicide and actual suicide in Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 62(11), 2874–2886. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.11.033
(2006b). Media guidelines on the reporting of suicide. Crisis, 27(2), 82–87. 10.1027/0227-5910.27.2.82
(2009). Changes in media reporting of suicide in Australia between 2000/01 and 2006/07. Crisis, 30(1), 25–33. 10.1027/0227-5910.30.1.25
(2017). Changing the direction of suicide prevention in the United States. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 47(4), 509–517. 10.1111/sltb.12310
. (2013). Media guidelines for reporting suicide. Guardian News and Media Limited. https://media.samaritans.org/documents/Samaritans_Media_Guidelines_UK_Apr17_Final_web.pdf
(2016). Population-based analysis of health care contacts among suicide decedents: Identifying opportunities for more targeted suicide prevention strategies. World Psychiatry (WPA), 15(2), 135–145. 10.1002/wps.20321
(2016). Towards a shared understanding: Perspectives from Toronto's first media forum for suicide prevention. Canadian Journal of Public Health = Revue Canadienne De Sante Publique, 107(3), e330–e332. 10.17269/cjph.107.5437
(2018a). The association between suicide deaths and putatively harmful and protective factors in media reports. CMAJ, 190(30), E900–E907. 10.1503/cmaj.170698
(2018b). Media guidelines for reporting on suicide: 2017 update of the Canadian Psychiatric Association Policy Paper. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 63(3), 182–196. 10.1177/0706743717753147
(2017). Global trends in suicide epidemiology. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 30(1), 1–6. 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000296
(2019). Suicide deaths by gas inhalation in Toronto: An observational study of emerging methods of suicide. Journal of Affective Disorders, 243, 226–231. 10.1016/j.jad.2018.09.017
(2012). Reporting of suicide by the New Zealand media. Crisis, 33, 199–207. 10.1027/0227-5910/a000133
(2019). Comparing indicators of suicidality among users in different types of nonprofessional suicide message boards. Crisis, 40(2), 125–133. 10.1027/0227-5910/a000540
World Health Organization . (2014). Preventing suicide: A global imperative. http://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/world_report_2014/en/World Health Organization . (2008). Preventing suicide: A resource for media professionals. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/resource_media.pdf
