Media reporting of suicide in New Zealand: "more matter with less art" (Hamlet, Shakespeare)

fever?” 1 Media influences on suicide behaviour have now been examined in more than 80 scientific studies worldwide. These studies yield remarkably consistent findings across different types of media, different research methodologies, and different cultures and countries, for outcomes of both suicide attempts and suicide completions. All lines of evidence tend to support the generalisation that media depictions, reporting and stories of suicide, whether fictional or non-fictional, may precipitate suicidal behaviour in vulnerable individuals, with these individuals particularly susceptible to stories involving celebrity suicide and those which provide details of methods of suicide. 2–5 For example the joint World Health Organization (WHO) and International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) guidelines on suicide and media reporting conclude: “Overall, there is enough evidence to suggest that some forms of nonfictional newspaper and television coverage of suicide are associated with a statistically significant excess of suicide; the impact appears to be strongest among young people.” 6 The research evidence indicates that the risk of imitative suicidal behaviour following media coverage is exacerbated by: