Investigating the impact of parallel media engagement initiatives on suicide reporting in Canada and Israel

To contrast changes in suicide-related media reporting quality during parallel initiatives to engage national media in Canada and Israel.

We coded media articles in Canada's and Israel's highest circulating newspapers (major broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, respectively) for putatively harmful and putatively protective suicide-related content. A sample of 150 articles (30/year) from each country was randomly selected for three time points: 2012 (T1; prior to media engagement), 2016-2017 (T2; early media engagement), and 2018-2019 (T3; late media engagement). Chi-square tests and binary logistic regression investigated overall between-country differences in reporting quality over time.

Following media engagement, adherence to guidelines improved over time in both countries for most variables. Over time, fewer Canadian and more Israeli articles covered celebrity suicide (OR = 4.97; 95%CI 1.68-16.69); more Canadian and fewer Israeli articles covered warning signs for suicide (OR = 0.30; 95%CI 0.12-0.78). Comparing articles over the entire timespan (T1-T3), a higher proportion of Israeli tabloid articles included putatively harmful content, such as mentioning suicide means (Israel: 65.3% vs. Canada 25.3%, χ²(1) = 48.4, p < 0.001), and a higher proportion of Canadian broadsheet articles included putatively protective content, such as providing information on intervention (Israel: 2.0% vs. Canada 27.3%, χ²(1) = 38.5, p < 0.001).

Media engagement appeared to confer benefits in both countries and publication formats. A higher proportion of Canadian articles adhered to several specific recommendations. Our findings must be interpreted in the context of differences in format between major Canadian and Israeli newspapers (broadsheet vs. tabloid) and the much higher total volume of suicide-related articles in Canada.