Over a 12-month period, Associate Professor Brian McKenna led a team to research how the New Zealand media reported on suicide and if this reporting was in line with the Ministry of Health's best practice standards. View this presentation from the 2010 SPINZ World Suicide Prevention Day Forum on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpQ3TuIGljg
2. 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)
3. Background – a public health issue
Suicide rate in New Zealand
500 deaths annually
Hospitalisations x5 this number annually
4. 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
5. 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
6. How the study was undertaken
Quantitative description of nature and extent of
reporting
Over a 12 month period from August 1st 2008
Newspaper, TV, radio and internet news sites
Applied quality indictors to a random 10% of
data
Qualitative five case studies (framing analysis)
7. Qualitative case studies (framing analysis)
Celebrity
New technology
Murder-suicide
Economic crisis
Mental health services
8. 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
10. 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
11. Case study 1
Celebrity
Making the ‘unremarkable’, ‘remarkable’
Highlights the ‘worst’ and the ‘best’
12. Case study 2
Murder- suicide
Reporting of murder over rides suicide
Except Christchurch event
Cultural stereotyping
13. 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?
14. 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
15. Case study 5
Mental health services
Apportioning blame
Failure of services
Missing voice of mental health services
16. Discussion – but the reporting is good overall !!!
Why?
Adhere to guidelines
Adhere to Coroners Act
Good ethical reporting is the norm
17. 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
18. 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?
19. The full report is available publicly from the Te
Pou website
Notes de l'éditeur
This is the first study to examine NZ media coverage of suicide. This research provides the first comprehensive baseline picture of the extent and nature of the reporting of suicide by New Zealand’s news media. The content and case study analysis of reporting of suicide in the media was undertaken in 2009 by the Centre for Mental Health Research at the University of Auckland. It was completed as part of the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2008-2012 and funded by the Ministry of Health through Te Pou.
The background: Between 2000 and 2007 an average of 500 New Zealanders died annually by suicide (Ministry of Health, 2007). International research suggests that media reporting can impact both negatively and positively on suicidal behaviour. Research investigating the negative consequences of media reporting highlights the harmful effects of sensationalist reporting and the effect of reporting specific suicide methods on ‘copycat’ behaviour . No studies have investigated the nature and extent of how suicide is reported in New Zealand.
This research is a descriptive account of the extent and nature of the reporting of suicide by New Zealand’s news media. It also assesses the alignment of news media stories with best practice standards for reporting suicide set out in Ministry of Health guidelines (1999). The quantitative part of the study involved the undertaking of content analysis that aimed to: provide a descriptive account of the nature and extent of reporting of suicide by the New Zealand news media assess the alignment of news media items with the best practice standards for reporting set out in the Ministry of Health guidelines (1999) and by the Coroners Act 2006 of New Zealand. The qualitative part of the study complements the quantitative analysis, providing an in depth examination of a selection of news media items that are thematically arranged under five different case studies. These five case studies focus on the reporting of suicide in relation to:Online media, Celebrities, Murder-suicide, Economic crisis, Mental health services The five case studies allow for close attention to be paid to the nature of the media reporting and how suicide is characteristically framed by New Zealand media in relation to the chosen topics. The study’s methodology was informed by the Australian Media Monitoring project undertaken by Pirkis et al (2001). The study was guided by an Expert Reference Group who oversaw the study design, implementation and analysis. The group comprised five members representing key stakeholder groups including journalism, psychiatry, Māori, Pacific and Asian perspectives.
The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to review radio, television, newspaper and internet mainstream news coverage of suicide collected over a 12-month period beginning 1 August 2008. The quantitative analysis provides a descriptive account of the nature and extent of reporting of suicide by the New Zealand news media. It assesses the alignment of news media items with best practice standards for reporting set out in Ministry of Health guidelines (1999) and with section 71 of the Coroners Act 2006. The qualitative analysis presents five case studies which focus on the reporting of suicide in relation to: online media, celebrities, murder-suicide, economic crisis and mental health services. They examine the nature of the media reporting and how suicide is characteristically framed by New Zealand media in relation to the chosen topics.
While results are positive, there is some room for improvement. The Ministry of Health’s media resource Suicide and the Media (Ministry of Health, 1999) requires review. The current guidelines are suggestive in nature and do not provide specific and practical guidance for journalists writing on suicide. Additionally, the guidelines do not relate usefully to all media types. Consequently, compared to newspaper reporters, some of the advice for radio reporters could be better adapted. In negotiating any future guidelines to enhance the quality of reporting on suicide, the Ministry of Health must consider both the requirements of different media and the practicality of the guidelines in the daily practices of journalists. This is especially important in attempts to have media perform an educative and health promoting role; items could be easily modified to include basic contact information and help-seeking advice