Citation

Oguro J, Kaigo M. Media Asia 2009; 36(1): 16-22.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009)

DOI

10.1080/23776277.2009.12224371

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The number of suicides per year in Japan has exceeded 30,000 every year for the past 10 years. Due to this increase, the Japanese government has commenced reporting monthly suicides from 2009. Japan is truly becoming a "suicide society" with the number of suicides increasing gradually but steadily. A number of factors can be attributed to this increase in the number of suicides in Japan. The authors attempt to examine what role the media have in this alarming trend. This paper conducts a content analysis of the Asahi Newspaper, extracting articles headlining with the keyword suicide every five years from 1985. The findings are significant: (a) the notion that the media are inciting suicides through coverage of suicide incidents is not supported; (b) the true situation of suicides in Japan is not being correctly conveyed through the mainstream media, partially due to the number of suicides but also because of the increased coverage that the sensational suicide incidents receive. The paper also discusses the role of the Japanese media, and what kind of responsibility it should take to serve the public in providing correct information. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Language: en