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© 2022 Indian Journal of Psychiatry | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
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prevention in India. Responsible and balanced media
reporting is an essential component of a public health
approach to preventing suicide; it promotes awareness
and prevents subsequent suicides, whereas sensationalized
reporting may trigger suicidal behavior among vulnerable
individuals.[2,3]
The literature on media reporting of suicide in India
remains limited. Further, available studies have assessed
quality of media reporting against the World Health
INTRODUCTION
The latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau
reveals that more than 150,000 individuals died by suicide in
India in 2020,[1] with a devastating impact on their families,
friends, and communities. Given this scenario, experts have
argued for a coordinated public health approach to suicide
BRIEF COMMUNICATION
Quality of newspaper reporting of suicide in Odisha, India, against the
World Health Organization guidelines
Sujita Kumar Kar, Susanta Kumar Padhy1, Rosali Bhoi1, Jigyansa Ipsita Pattnaik2, Vikas Menon3
Department of Psychiatry, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 1Department of Psychiatry, All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 2Department of Psychiatry, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences
(KIMS), KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 3Department of Psychiatry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical
Education and Research, Puducherry, India
Address for correspondence: Dr. Vikas Menon,
Department of Psychiatry, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate
Medical Education and Research, Puducherry ‑ 605 006, India.
E‑mail: drvmenon@gmail.com
Submitted: 12‑May‑2021, Revised: 04‑Dec‑2021,
Accepted: 19‑Dec‑2021, Published: 21‑Jan‑2022
Background: Imbalanced media reporting of suicide may increase suicide risk among vulnerable individuals.
Aim: This study aims to assess the quality of suicide reporting in print newspapers of Odisha, a high suicide burden
state in Eastern India.
Materials and Methods: We analyzed all eligible media reports of suicide in selected English and local language
printed newspapers of Odisha between October 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020. Quality assessment was carried out
against international as well as local reporting guidelines.
Results: A total of 248 news reports were analyzed. Majority of the articles reported identifying details (such as
name [74.2%], age [60.9%], and gender [98.4%] of deceased) as well as a detailed description about the suicide
event (suicide method [87.5%] and location [84.3%]). More than half (54.8%) of the reports attributed suicide to a
single cause.
Conclusion: Suicide reports in print newspapers of Odisha are poorly adherent to local and international suicide
reporting guidelines.
Key words: India, media, suicide, suicide prevention, Werther effect
How to cite this article: Kar SK, Padhy SK, Bhoi R, Pattnaik JI,
Menon V. Quality of newspaper reporting of suicide in Odisha,
India, against the World Health Organization guidelines. Indian
J Psychiatry 2022;64:80‑3.
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ABSTRACT
Kar, et al.: Media reporting of suicide
Indian Journal of Psychiatry Volume 64, Issue 1, January-February 2022 81
Organization (WHO) reporting guidelines;[4] none evaluated
adherence to the recent reporting guidelines issued by the
Press Council of India (PCI) in 2019.[5] Given this scenario, we
planned the present study to evaluate the quality of media
reporting in print newspapers of the state of Odisha against
both international[4] as well as local[5] media reporting
guidelines. We chose the eastern state of Odisha because
the suicide rate in the state is pegged at 12.2 per 100,000
population, which is above the national average of 11.3 per
100,000 population.[1]
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study setting and data collection
A team of two bilingual psychiatrists independently
reviewed all suicide news reports published in the printed
versions of the two most widely read English (The Times of
India and The New Indian Express) and local language (Odia)
newspapers (Sambad and Samaj) across 1 year from October
1, 2019, to September 30, 2020. The selected newspapers
figure among the most widely read newspapers in the
state.[6] The search was performed retrospectively, in
person, and printed newspapers were sourced from physical
libraries. Before study initiation, both the investigators
were explained the selection and coding of reports by
a team of senior investigators with prior experience in
such research.[7] We included all news articles reporting a
suicide event (both suicide and attempted suicide) within
the geographical boundaries of the state of Odisha during
the study; reports of suicide that occurred outside the state
boundaries were excluded.
Data extraction
Relevant data were extracted using a Google form, which
was prepared a priori based on the checklist for media
reporting of suicide by the WHO[4] and the PCI.[5] We chose
the WHO reporting guidelines as the measure of quality
assessment because it is the most widely employed measure
in media reporting studies from India[7,8] and Asia.[9,10]
The initial part of the questionnaire collected necessary
descriptive information about the report such as name and
date of the publication, language of the news report, the
position of the news report (main section or supplement
of the newspaper), and length of the news report (<11
sentences, 11–20 sentences, and more than 20 sentences).
Subsequent information from the report was extracted
under the following headings:
Content in the title of the report
The following variables were coded in this section: mention
of the person’s name, age, gender, occupation of the
person, method of suicide, the reason for suicide, location
of suicide, and triggering life events.
Content in the body of the report
Here, we coded all the above information. Moreover, we also
coded mentioning detailed description of steps involved
in committing suicide (operationalized as mentioning any
two sequential steps of suicide),[8] relevant life events,
mono-causal explanations, mention of suicide note, effects
on the family, interview of bereaved family members,
information on warning signs and association of the event
with mental health issues, and other helpful reporting
practices elucidated in the WHO reporting guidelines.[4]
In addition, items based on the PCI reporting guidelines
which were not covered by WHO guidelines were also
coded; this included the presence of repeating stories, use
of sensationalized language, normalization of suicide (as a
constructive way to deal with life’s issues), explicit description
of method used (operationalized as including a description
about the suicide method but without mentioning sequential
steps of suicide), usage of sensational headlines, inclusion of
links to relevant video footage or social media.
Each of the above variables was coded as yes or no based
on the presence or absence of the item in the news report.
After completing data entry, all fields were independently
checked by the first author; any missing data were corrected
at this stage.
Statistical analysis
Descriptive statistics (frequencies with percentages) were
used to depict the data extracted. Quality assessment of
media suicide reports was described under potentially
harmful characteristics and potentially helpful characteristics
as per the WHO reporting guidelines and summarized using
descriptive statistics.
Ethical approval
As the study involved analysis of secondary data available
in the public domain, no formal approval of an independent
ethics committee was sought for carrying out the present
work.
RESULTS
A total of 248 relevant news reports of suicide were
identified during the search. Of these news reports,
130 (52.4%) were local language (Odia) news reports, and the
remaining (n = 118, 47.8%) were English news reports. The
break-up of news reports in the individual newspapers was
as follows: The New Indian Express (n = 67), Sambad (n = 67),
Samaj (n = 63), and The Times of India (n = 51).
Descriptive characteristics of the reports
The majority (n = 246, 99.2%) of the news articles were
published in the newspaper’s central section, with
26.2% (n = 65) having a highly prominent placement.
Approximately one in five news articles (n = 54, 21.8%) were
Kar, et al.: Media reporting of suicide
Indian Journal of Psychiatry Volume 64, Issue 1, January-February 2022
82
lengthy and occupied more than 20 sentences. The majority
of the news reports (n = 233, 93.9%) were about suicide
decedents, and 76.6% (n = 190) of the articles discussed a
single suicide case.
Quality assessment of suicide reporting against World
Health Organization reporting guidelines
More than half of the news reports mentioned gender (83.5%),
method of suicide (60.9%), and location of suicide (52.0%) in
the title of the news reports. Similarly, the majority of the
news reports discussed the personal details [name (74.2%),
age (60.9%), and gender (98.4%)], and details of the suicidal
act [method of suicide (87.5%), location of suicide (84.3%)]
in the body of the news report. More than half of the news
reports mentioned inciting life events (61.7%) and proposed
a monocausal explanation (54.8%) for suicide.
Potentially helpful reporting characteristics such as
mentioning the effects on the bereaved (8.1%), warning
signs of suicide (5.2%), associated mental health issues (10.
9%), suicide research data (2.4%), or statistics (2.0%), and
including educational and preventive information (0.40%)
were relatively less common. None of the news reports
mentioned the contact details of support services [Table 1].
Quality assessment of suicide reporting against Press
Council of India reporting guidelines
The most common reporting infringement mentioned
details about the suicide site or location (48.8%) followed
by explicit descriptions of the suicide method used (46.8%)
[Table 2].
DISCUSSION
Our findings show that media reporting of suicide in Odisha
is imbalanced and poorly adherent to international[4] and
the PCI’s reporting guidelines.[5] Harmful reporting practices
were very prevalent; in contrast, there was little focus
on helpful reporting practices. Readers were commonly
exposed to lengthy, prominently placed, and sensationalist
portrayals of suicide stories.
Our findings are consistent with prior studies from India[7,8,11]
and South East Asia[9,10] which assessed the quality of media
reporting of suicide against international guidelines. The
use of explicit language to describe the identity of the
person was highly prevalent in the reports; observed figures
were much higher than a previous study from India[7] though
lower than some others[11,12] and much higher compared to
studies from developed nations.[13,14] Likewise, reporting
of suicide methods and steps involved in suicide were
common transgressions, comparable to other studies from
India[7,8] and South East Asia.[9] A detailed description of
suicide methods can trigger imitative suicides by providing
a model to those vulnerable;[15] accordingly, there is a need
to curb this practice.
Table 1: Potentially harmful and helpful reporting
characteristics according to the World Health
Organization media reporting guidelines
Variable All news reports
(n=248), n (%)
Mention in the title of the news article
Name 104 (41.93)
Age 89 (35.89)
Gender 207 (83.47)
Method of suicide 151 (60.89)
Location of suicide 129 (52.02)
Reason of suicide 114 (45.97)
Occupation 110 (44.35)
Life events 86 (34.68)
Mention of identity of the person
Name 184 (74.19)
Age 151 (60.89)
Gender 244 (98.39)
Occupation 136 (54.84)
Mention about details of act
Name of method of suicide 217 (87.5)
Details/steps of suicide 87 (35.08)
Location of suicide 209 (84.27)
Life events mentioned 153 (61.69)
Mono-causal explanation implied 136 (54.84)
Mention of suicide associated with homicide 11 (4.43)
Mention about suicide pact 26 (10.48)
Mention about suicide note 20 (8.06)
Photo
Photo of the victim 39 (15.72)
Photo of the location 14 (5.64)
Mention about the details of bereaved
Eects on bereaved 20 (8.06)
Interview of bereaved 21 (8.47)
Comments of bereaved 31 (12.5)
Mention about warning signs/indications
Warning signs 13 (5.24)
Social media post indicating suicide 9 (3.63)
Text message/phone calls indicating suicide 4 (1.61)
Mention association with mental health issues 27 (10.89)
Mention association with substance use 2 (0.81)
Mention about evidences and preventive measures
Mention about expert opinion 5 (2.02)
Mention about research nding 6 (2.42)
Mention about any statistics related to suicide 5 (2.02)
Mention about any educative/preventive
information
1 (0.40)
Mention about any support service contact details 0
Table 2: Reporting characteristics according to Press
Council of India media reporting guidelines for suicide
Variable All news reports (n=248),
n (%)
Prominent placement of suicide report
(front page or rst three pages)
67 (27.02)
Repeating stories 16 (6.45)
Uses sensationalizing language 72 (29.03)
Normalizes suicide (presents suicide as
a constructive solution to problems)
68 (27.42)
Explicitly describes method used 116 (46.77)
Provides details about site/location 121 (48.79)
Uses sensational headlines 98 (39.51)
Uses photographs 95 (38.31)
Uses video footage or social media links 1 (0.40)
Kar, et al.: Media reporting of suicide
Indian Journal of Psychiatry Volume 64, Issue 1, January-February 2022 83
Crucially, amidst these reporting infringements, there was
little focus on reporting practices that provide hope and
help to readers. A little more than a tenth of the reports
discussed association with mental health issues, very few
reports included any information on suicide-related warning
signs, expert opinions, suicide-related statistics, or research
findings, and, rather strikingly, none of the reports included
any information on suicide support services, such as suicide
helplines. These represent clear violation of reporting
guidelines and are in line with reporting trends from India,[8]
Asia,[9,10,16] and elsewhere.[13]
Given the weight of evidence on the sub-optimal quality of
media reporting of suicide in India and Asian countries, we
propose a few recommendations such as framing national
guidelines for responsible media reporting, commissioning
of a national media monitoring agency[17] and greater
collaboration and engagement with media professionals
to improve the scenario on media reporting of suicide.
The present study had two key limitations. First, we covered
only four newspapers from a single state in India over a
1-year time period. Second, our findings may not generalize
to other forms of print media such as tabloids or evening
newspapers.
CONCLUSIONS
Media reporting of suicide in Odisha, India, is poorly
adherent to PCI and WHO reporting guidelines. These
findings point to the need for greater engagement and
collaboration with media professionals to promote balanced
and responsible suicide reporting.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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