Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, 6875 LaSalle Blvd, Montreal, QC, H4H 1R3, Canada.
BMC Public Health. 2018 Aug 31;18(1):1086. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5987-3.
Evidence suggests that the media can influence societal attitudes and beliefs to various social issues. This influence is especially strong for mental health issues, particularly suicide. As such, the aim of this study is to systematically examine Canadian newspaper coverage of the popular fictional Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, wherein the lead character dies by suicide in the final episode.
Articles mentioning the series were systematically collected from best-selling Canadian newspapers in the three-month period following series release (April-June 2017). Articles were coded for adherence to key best practice recommendations on how to sensitively report suicide. Frequency counts and proportions were produced. An inductive qualitative thematic analysis was then undertaken to identify common themes within the articles.
A total of 71 articles met study inclusion criteria. The majority of articles did not mention the suicide method (88.7%) and did not use stigmatizing language such as 'commit suicide' (84.5%). Almost half of the articles linked suicide to wider social issues (43.7%) or quoted a mental health professional (45.1%). 25% included information telling others considering suicide where to get help. Our qualitative analysis indicated that articles simultaneously praised and criticized the series. It was praised for (i) promoting dialogue and discussion about youth suicide; (ii) raising awareness of youth suicide issues; (iii) shining a spotlight on wider social issues that may affect suicide. It was criticized for (i) glorifying suicide, (ii) harmfully impacting young viewers; (iii) prompting pushback from educators and schools.
Newspaper coverage of '13 Reasons Why' generally adhered to core best practice media recommendations, and sensitively discussed suicide from various angles, prompting productive discussion and dialogue about youth suicide. These findings suggest that the media can be an ally in promoting dialogue and raising awareness of important public health issues such as suicide.
有证据表明，媒体可以对各种社会问题的社会态度和观念产生影响。这种影响在心理健康问题上尤其强烈，尤其是自杀问题。因此，本研究的目的是系统地考察加拿大报纸对热门虚构网飞系列剧《13 个原因》的报道，该剧主角在最后一集中自杀身亡。
在该剧播出后的三个月（2017 年 4 月至 6 月）内，从加拿大最畅销的报纸中系统地收集了提到该剧的文章。对文章进行编码，以遵守关于如何敏感地报道自杀的关键最佳实践建议。生成了频率计数和比例。然后进行了归纳定性主题分析，以确定文章中的常见主题。
共有 71 篇文章符合研究纳入标准。大多数文章没有提到自杀方法（88.7%），也没有使用“自杀”等污名化语言（84.5%）。近一半的文章将自杀与更广泛的社会问题联系起来（43.7%）或引用心理健康专业人士的话（45.1%）。25%的文章包含告诉考虑自杀的人在哪里可以获得帮助的信息。我们的定性分析表明，文章同时对该剧进行了赞扬和批评。该剧受到称赞的原因是：（i）促进了关于青少年自杀的对话和讨论；（ii）提高了人们对青少年自杀问题的认识；（iii）突显了可能影响自杀的更广泛的社会问题。它受到批评的原因是：（i）美化自杀；（ii）对年轻观众造成伤害；（iii）促使教育工作者和学校做出抵制。
报纸对《13 个原因》的报道总体上符合核心最佳实践媒体建议，并从各个角度敏感地讨论了自杀问题，引发了关于青少年自杀的富有成效的讨论和对话。这些发现表明，媒体可以成为促进对话和提高对自杀等重要公共卫生问题认识的盟友。
