Is suicide reporting in Indian newspapers responsible? A study from Rajasthan

Media reporting has consistently been shown to influence suicidal behaviour. Irresponsible reporting by the media can lead to imitative suicidal behaviour. The WHO has delineated guidelines for responsible media reporting of suicide. The study aims to examine whether Indian newspapers adhere to the WHO guidelines and whether there are differences in style of reporting between local and national newspapers and between English and Hindi newspapers.

The study was conducted on ten newspaper publications that were circulated in Jaipur, India from 1st October 2014 to 31st December 2014. All ten newspapers were screened daily for news items related to suicide. Each news item so obtained was studied in detail and then rated using a scale developed in India by psychiatrists and journalists. This scale is based on the WHO guidelines.

On an average a newspaper publishes one news item related to suicide every other day. Suicide reporting in Indian newspapers has a strong inclination towards sensationalism. No effort was made to include any educative material the reports. On the positive side most newspapers did not publish the photograph of deceased, or glorify the victims. The newspapers did not try to portray suicide as understandable and were largely neutral in their reporting. The reporting patterns were similar across regional and national newspapers as also across Hindi and English language newspapers.

Suicide reporting in India is largely irresponsible and efforts should be made to sensitise media personnel in this regard.