Citation

Sheftall AH, Tissue JL, Schlagbaum P, Singer JB, Young N, Stevens JH, Ackerman JP. JAMA Netw. Open 2019; 2(11): e1914517.

Affiliation

Department of Behavioral Health, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.14517

PMID

31675079

Abstract

News media coverage of suicide is associated with an increased risk of subsequent suicides, with the strongest associations following newspaper reporting of celebrity suicides. To reduce these adverse effects, media guidelines were established for reporting on suicide in 2001; however, adherence varies, and research shows many media outlets are unaware that such guidelines exist.

On June 5, 2018, Kate Spade died by suicide, and on June 8, 2018, Anthony Bourdain died by suicide. These events provided an opportunity to examine newspaper adherence to reporting guidelines. Because much criticism followed the reporting on Spade’s death, we hypothesized that the reporting on Bourdain’s death would be more guideline adherent.

Newspapers were selected based on US geographic regions and daily circulation data. All 4 US regions (ie, Northeast, South, Midwest, and West) were represented, with no more than 2 newspapers from the same city. The 10 print newspapers included 3 national and 7 regional newspapers ...

Language: en