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The newsworthiness of suicide
Jane Pirkis1, Philip Burgess, R Warwick Blood
1School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. jpirkis@unimelb.edu.au
Abstract:
There is a paucity of studies examining which suicides are considered news-worthy. By combining data on media reports of individuals' suicides with routinely collected suicide data, it was found that 1% of Australian suicides were reported over a 1-year period. There was evidence of over-reporting of suicides by older people and females, and those involving dramatic methods. Reported suicides fell into three groups: suicides reported in a broader context; suicides by celebrities; and suicides involving unusual circumstances/methods. The data suggest a need for media professionals and suicide experts to work together to balance newsworthiness against the risk of copycat behavior.
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