Reporting of Suicide in the New Zealand Media: Content and case study analysis.

Team from the Centre for Mental Health Research, University of Auckland.  Dr Brian McKenna – lead investigator  Dr Katey Thom – sociologist  Gareth Edwards – service user academic  Tony O’Brien – academic clinician  Dr Ray Nairn – media analysis expert  Ingrid Leary – journalist  Expert Reference Group (cultural expertise)

Background – a public health issue  Suicide rate in New Zealand  500 deaths annually  Hospitalisations x5 this number annually

Background  Impact of media coverage on suicide  Evidence of negative impact of sensational reporting  International guidelines  Ministry of Health Guidelines 1999  Coroner’s Act 2006  No New Zealand studies

Research aims  Descriptive baseline account of media reporting  Alignment with Ministry of Health guidelines  Includes five case studies  Informed by a similar Australian study- the Australian media monitoring project  Adapted to NZ context

How the study was undertaken  Quantitative description of nature and extent of reporting  Over a 12 month period from August 1 st 2008  Newspaper, TV, radio and internet news sites  Applied quality indictors to a random 10% of data  Qualitative five case studies (framing analysis)

Qualitative case studies (framing analysis)  Celebrity  New technology  Murder-suicide  Economic crisis  Mental health services

Findings descriptive overview  3,483 items over a 12-month period  Spikes in reporting  Bain re-trail.  Alleged suicide attempts by a celebrity  Most reporting in the newspapers – 50%  Most of completed suicide – 57% in newspapers

Findings descriptive overview  ‘Mass mediated reality’ = ‘official reality’  Culture  Gender  Suicidal behaviour  Method

Findings – quality indicators (10%)  Most guidelines followed  Page one and headline exposure.  Avoidance of methods  Avoidance of visuals  Room for improvements  Link to mental illness  Overcoming difficulties  Help-seeking information

Case study 1  Celebrity  Making the ‘unremarkable’, ‘remarkable’  Highlights the ‘worst’ and the ‘best’

Case study 2  Murder- suicide  Reporting of murder over rides suicide  Except Christchurch event  Cultural stereotyping

Case study 3  Economic crisis  Predominance of discussions regarding the wealthy  Acceptable response  What is the role of mental health in relationship to these events?

Case study 4  New technology  “How to” websites  Text bullying  Completed suicide filmed on the internet  Technology out of control  Problem not solution based reporting

Case study 5  Mental health services  Apportioning blame  Failure of services  Missing voice of mental health services

Discussion – but the reporting is good overall !!!  Why?  Adhere to guidelines  Adhere to Coroners Act  Good ethical reporting is the norm

Discussion – do we need the Guidelines?  To assist new professionals  To maintain professional standards  Need reviewing – research difficulty  Collaborative review  Must be driven by journalists

Discussion – do we need Coroner’s Act control?  Chief Coroner has opened the debate  Will more information assist in prevention?  Are guidelines for Coroner’s needed?

The full report is available publicly from the Te Pou website