1 Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
6 South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration (SACTRC), Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
Crisis. 2019 Jan;40(1):54-61. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000534. Epub 2018 Jul 27.
Irresponsible media reporting may influence suicidal behavior. Adherence to guidelines for responsible reporting of suicide has not been examined in Sri Lanka in recent times.
To examine the quality of reporting on self-harm and suicide in Sri Lankan newspapers and compare the quality between Sinhala and English newspapers.
From December 1, 2014 to January 31, 2015, 407 editions of newspapers were screened. Reporting quality was measured using the PRINTQUAL tool.
We identified 68 articles covering an episode of self-harm or suicide (42 Sinhala and 26 English). The majority of articles were noncompliant with guidelines for sensitive reporting. Indicators of noncompliance included that newspaper articles frequently reported method in the headline (53%), included detailed characteristics of the individual (100%), used insensitive language (58% of English articles), and attributed a single-factor cause to the self-harm (52%). No information about help-seeking was included.
The study involved a relatively short period of data collection. Including social media, Tamil language newspapers, and online publications would have provided additional understanding of reporting practices.
The majority of Sri Lankan newspapers did not follow the principles of good reporting, indicating a need for further training of journalists.
不负责任的媒体报道可能会影响自杀行为。最近，斯里兰卡没有对自杀事件报道的责任准则的遵守情况进行审查。
检查斯里兰卡报纸对自残和自杀的报道质量，并比较僧伽罗语和英语报纸之间的报道质量。
从 2014 年 12 月 1 日至 2015 年 1 月 31 日，筛选了 407 期报纸。使用 PRINTQUAL 工具来衡量报道质量。
我们确定了 68 篇涵盖自残或自杀事件的文章（42 篇僧伽罗语和 26 篇英语）。大多数文章不符合敏感报道的指南。不遵守规定的指标包括报纸文章经常在标题中报道方法（53%）、包含个人的详细特征（100%）、使用不敏感的语言（58%的英语文章），并将单一因素归因于自残（52%）。没有提供有关寻求帮助的信息。
该研究涉及相对较短的数据收集期。包括社交媒体、泰米尔语报纸和在线出版物将提供对报道实践的更多理解。
大多数斯里兰卡报纸没有遵循良好报道的原则，这表明需要进一步培训记者。
