The Trend of Suicide Reporting in the Media: an Effectiveness Study of Daily Surveillance over Nine Years

Inadequate media reporting on suicide can cause copycat suicide attempts. The study aimed to assess the effect of a surveillance program by the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center (TSPC) on the quality of news media reporting of suicide. The TSPC conducted daily surveillance with timely feedback and interactive approaches to suicide reporting for four major newspapers. To test the effectiveness of surveillance, adherence to the 12-item WHO guideline was analyzed for print media yearly from 2010 to 2018, and for online media by month for 2017 and 2018. Results showed that over the nine years, the amount of suicide reporting in print newspapers markedly decreased, but it increased sharply for online media. Surveillance of print media showed significant improvement in suicide reporting adherence to all guideline items except "Do not publish photo or suicide notes." Adherence was excellent for half of the 12 items, around 90%. Marked improvement was observed in the items "Do not report specific details of the suicide method," "Do not give simplistic reasons," and "Provide helpline information." However, both "Highlight the alternatives to suicide" and "Work closely with health authorities to present the facts" had persistently low adherence over the years, the lowest of the 12 items. The findings for online media had a similar trend, with a similar adherence profile by item as print newspapers. Under surveillance, media reporting of suicide significantly improved in most guideline items. Further development of psychiatric-media liaisons should help further improve reporting quality.