Citation

Tatum PT, Canetto SS, Slater MD. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2010; 40(5): 524-534.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1521/suli.2010.40.5.524

PMID

21034215

PMCID

PMC3015096

Abstract

A nationally representative sample of 968 local and national newspapers was examined to determine whether the 2001 U.S. media guidelines were followed in articles published in 2002-2003, and featuring individual cases of suicidal behavior (N = 157). We found that, during this period of time, U.S. newspaper suicide coverage did not consistently reflect the influence of the media guidelines. On the positive side, only 19% of stories included inappropriate imagery. On the negative side, suicide stories often detailed suicide method (56% of stories) and location (58%), and rarely provided information about warning signs and risk factors (1%), the roles of depression (4%) and alcohol (2%), and prevention resources (6%). Our findings, together with previous evidence, suggest the need for sustained dialogue with the media about suicide reporting.

Language: en