Assessing the Quality of Media Reporting of Suicide News in Kerala, India.

IF 2.6 4区医学 Q3 PSYCHIATRY

Crisis-The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Pub Date : 2025-08-19 DOI:10.1027/0227-5910/a001024

Dhanya N, Joseph C Mamman, Femilin Davis, Anusree K P, Gregory Armstrong

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Suicide is a growing public health concern in India, with Kerala being one of the states with the highest suicide rates. Responsible media reporting is a crucial population-level suicide prevention strategy. However, the quality of suicide reporting in newspapers remains a concern. Aim: To assess the quality of newspaper reports of suicide in Kerala, India, against the World Health Organization (WHO) media guidelines for reporting suicide. Method: Content analysis of suicide reports published by the 11 most widely circulated Malayalam daily newspapers in Kerala, between June and November 2023. Results: A total of 1,068 suicide news reports were analyzed. Harmful reporting practices, such as reporting the method used (90.9%), mentioning negative life events (36.8%), stating the method in headlines (46.7%), and using photographs of the deceased (69.9%), were common, while helpful practices, such as providing contact details of helplines (0.7%), were rare. Limitations: The study is limited to print newspaper reports and does not examine suicide reporting in other media formats. Additionally, it focuses only on Malayalam newspapers in Kerala. Conclusion: The study highlights a low level of adherence to WHO guidelines indicating the need for effective dissemination of the guidelines and training of media professionals.

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评估印度喀拉拉邦自杀新闻的媒体报道质量。

背景：自杀是印度日益严重的公共卫生问题，喀拉拉邦是自杀率最高的邦之一。负责任的媒体报道是一项至关重要的人口层面自杀预防战略。然而，报纸上自杀报道的质量仍然令人担忧。目的：根据世界卫生组织（世卫组织）媒体报道自杀的指导方针，评估印度喀拉拉邦自杀新闻报道的质量。方法：对2023年6月至11月期间喀拉拉邦11家发行量最大的马拉雅拉姆日报发表的自杀报道进行内容分析。结果：共分析了1068篇自杀新闻报道。有害的报告做法，例如报告使用的方法（90.9%）、提及负面的生活事件（36.8%）、在标题中说明方法（46.7%）和使用死者的照片（69.9%），是常见的，而有益的做法，例如提供求助热线的联系方式（0.7%）则很少见。局限性：该研究仅限于纸质报纸报道，并没有研究其他媒体形式的自杀报道。此外，它只关注喀拉拉邦的马拉雅拉姆语报纸。结论：该研究强调了遵守世卫组织指南的程度较低，表明需要有效传播指南和培训媒体专业人员。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Crisis-The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Multiple-

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

6.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： A must for all who need to keep up on the latest findings from both basic research and practical experience in the fields of suicide prevention and crisis intervention! This well-established periodical’s reputation for publishing important articles on suicidology and crisis intervention from around the world is being further enhanced with the move to 6 issues per year (previously 4) in 2010. But over and above its scientific reputation, Crisis also publishes potentially life-saving information for all those involved in crisis intervention and suicide prevention, making it important reading for clinicians, counselors, hotlines, and crisis intervention centers.