Citation

Beautrais A. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 113.

Affiliation

Canterbury Suicide Project, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, PO Box 4345, 8001 Christchurch, New Zealand. (suicide@chmeds.ac.nz)

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16964066

Abstract

Aims: All lines of evidence tend to support the generalisation that media depictions, reporting and stories about suicide, whether fictional or non-fictional, may precipitate suicidal behaviour in vulnerable individuals, with these individuals particularly susceptible to suicide stories involving celebrities, those which detail methods and those which involve repetitive coverage. For these reasons, New Zealand developed media guidelines for the reporting and portrayal of suicide as part of a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy. However, the local press has been reluctant to accept the imposition of guidelines about the reporting of suicide, has misunderstood the evidence base on the issue, and has tended to reject the evidence on the basis that it is flawed, inaccurate, incorrect or even non-existent. While the content of the New Zealand guidelines is similar to that of guidelines produced in other countries, the way in which the guidelines were developed and disseminated may account for their rejection by the press. This paper explores aspects of the development and implementation of the guidelines which may have contributed to their poor adoption by journalists. In addition, data are presented from a New Zealand study which examined the impact on public perceptions of suicide, given the way media reports about suicide are currently framed. Conclusions: The paper argues for the need for an informed consensus between researchers and health professionals, and journalists, about reporting and portrayal of suicide.

Language: en