Suicide and the Media

This project's key strategy is partnership-fostered research. Following a comprehensive global review of research findings about the impact of suicide coverage ('Suicidal Behaviour and the Mass Media' conducted by the Centre for Suicide Research, Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University) MediaWise engaged in a joint project with Befrienders International (now part of Samaritans UK) to investigate the extent to which suicide reporting is taught on journalism training courses or covered in Codes of Conduct or editorial guidelines. Based on findings from both sets of research, MediaWise developed and delivered training for media professionals, which was refined after testing with National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members and journalism students in the United Kingdom (UK), and with media professionals in the Asia Pacific region and South East Asia..

This work included consultation with working journalists and 23 mental heath organisations to produce reporting guidelines (available online and in printed form in four languages) jointly sponsored by Befrienders International, the NUJ, and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). According to MediaWise, the guidelines have been commended for being simple and comprehensive, and for the methods used to incorporate the concerns of media and health professionals.

In 2003 MediaWise worked with the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) in Colombo, Sri Lanka - where suicide rates are high and style of coverage "quite lurid" (in MediaWise's estimation) - on a more detailed study of local media coverage in Sri Lanka, producing materials in English, Sinhala, and Tamil to encourage more responsible reporting. A post-tsunami follow up project with the CPA is scheduled for completion in 2007.

In 2006 MediaWise developed a partnership with Life Line International Taiwan and the College of Communication at the National Chengchi University in Taipei to encourage change in the way the island's "highly competitive" media (in MediaWise's words) have been focusing on increasing levels of suicide. This resulted in a major conference at which the findings of local research demonstrated a link between media coverage and rates of suicidal behaviour, and MediaWise toured journalism training departments to encourage the introduction of teaching modules on sensitive media coverage.

Based on its research, MediaWise, along with other suicide prevention groups was able to persuade the UK newspaper industry's Code Committee to include reference to the need for sensitive coverage of reporting of suicide in its in 2006 revision of the Editor's Code of Practice.

In 2006 MediaWise was commissioned by the Shift Stigma programme of the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) to test the efficacy of guidelines for journalists. The results of the study will be published in 2007, but a survey of UK journalists revealed that those most likely to take notice of guidelines are those most directly affected by the issues, and that recognition of the need for sensitivity is more likely only when a problematic issue has been flagged up in basic training or early in a journalist's career.

One key finding that emerged from this research process is that "media professionals everywhere have an onerous responsibility when reporting about suicide." To help articulate the shape of that responsibility - and to provide concrete examples, data, guidelines, and training to help reinforce it - this project has created a number of resources that are being shared (for free) through a dedicated page on the MediaWise Trust website. This page provides access to the results of the research project in an effort to enable a broad audience of media personnel and the public to learn from it. Please click on the below links for summaries (in the Materials section of The Communication Initiative website) of each of the key reports produced through the project:

1. Covering Suicide Worldwide: Media Responsibilities
2. Reporting Suicide: Guidelines for Journalists from Journalists
3. Suicide Sensitive Journalism Handbook
4. Reporting Suicide: Awareness Training for Media Professionals

Suicide, Mental Health, Journalism Training.

The MediaWise Trust (formerly PressWise Trust) is an independent media ethics body supported by concerned journalists, media lawyers, and politicians in the UK. The group provides advice, information, research, and training on various aspects of media policy, practice, and law. "MediaWise believes that press freedom is a responsibility exercised by journalists and editors on behalf of the public. The most important role of journalists in a democracy is to inform the public about events, issues and opinions which might influence the decisions people take about their lives and the society in which they live." Click here for a summary of MediaWise.