Marzano Lisa, Fraser Lorna, Scally Mia, Farley Stuart, Hawton Keith
1 Psychology Department, Middlesex University, London, UK.
2 Samaritans, Ewell, UK.
Crisis. 2018 Sep;39(5):386-396. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000533. Epub 2018 Jul 27.
Media reporting of suicide has been associated with imitative acts. Internationally, this has led to the development of guidelines to promote responsible reporting of suicide.
To examine the nature and quality of news coverage of suicidal behavior in the United Kingdom (UK) and Republic of Ireland (ROI).
UK and ROI press clippings relating to suicide over 12 months (N = 8,101) were coded for content and assessed for quality against existing guidelines. We examined variability in relation to key characteristics (e.g., type of publication) and compared newspaper portrayal of suicide against official statistics.
Reports were biased toward young, female, and relatively unusual suicides (including those involving a celebrity, more than one individual, and violent methods). Almost a third of reports had inappropriate headlines, but only a minority were of poor overall quality, and editors appear to be responsive to feedback. There was considerable variability in the quality of reports for different suicide methods.
This work cannot account for the impact of reporting on suicidal behavior. The speed of change in media trends also limits its conclusions.
Our findings underscore the need for sustained efforts to promote responsible reporting of suicide.
媒体对自杀事件的报道与模仿行为有关。在国际上，这促使了旨在促进对自杀事件进行负责任报道的指导方针的制定。
研究英国（UK）和爱尔兰共和国（ROI）媒体对自杀行为的新闻报道的性质和质量。
对12个月内与自杀相关的英国和爱尔兰共和国剪报（N = 8101）进行内容编码，并根据现有指导方针评估质量。我们研究了与关键特征（如出版物类型）相关的变异性，并将报纸对自杀的描述与官方统计数据进行了比较。
报道偏向于年轻、女性以及相对不常见的自杀事件（包括涉及名人、多人以及暴力手段的自杀事件）。近三分之一的报道标题不当，但总体质量较差的仅占少数，而且编辑似乎对反馈有反应。不同自杀方式的报道质量存在很大差异。
这项研究无法说明报道对自杀行为的影响。媒体趋势的变化速度也限制了其结论。
我们的研究结果强调了持续努力促进对自杀事件进行负责任报道的必要性。
