Suicide news coverage in Thailand in the light of the World Health Organization guideline for media professionals
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Abstract
Objective: To assess online suicide news articles in Thai language using the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting guidelines and The Mental Health Act (Second issue) B.E. 2562.
Methods: Eligible suicide articles published online in Thai newspaper websites during July - December 2020 were analyzed for potentially harmful and potentially helpful characteristics using the WHO guideline for media professionals and The Mental Health Act (Second issue) B.E. 2562 as guides. Descriptive statistics by means of frequency and percentage were used to describe the findings.
Results: 313 suicide news articles were assessed in the study. Potentially harmful characteristics were present in news articles in high frequencies as evident by more than 75% of the article mentioning the word "suicide" or similar in the title, mentioning the method of suicide in the news title, mentioning name, age, gender of the victim(s) in the news body and mentioning of location and method of suicide in the news body. Among the potentially helpful characteristics, warning signs were reported in more than 25% of suicide news.
Conclusion: News articles found on websites of Thai newspaper might have negative impact on suicidal behavior as they have shown poor compliance to the World Health Organization guideline for media professionals in reporting suicide. Further studies are needed to better understand the situation in hope of designing a better intervention.
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