Public health researchers and media watchdogs yesterday used World Suicide Prevention Day to exhort the nation's newspapers and television stations to curb sensationalized coverage of suicides.
Speaking at a World Suicide Prevention Day conference sponsored by the Dharma Drum Mountain Foundation, Broadcasting Development Fund (BFD) chairman Connie Lin (林育卉) condemned print and television media for their "irresponsible" coverage of suicides.
Foundation research between June and November last year showed the Apple Daily leading the pack regarding suicide coverage in newspapers, with 162 articles and 14 front page headlines. However, most newspaper and television station reports fail to meet ethical standards, Lin said.
"Suicide notes are published, or read out loud on TV," Lin said. "They even show photographs of corpses on the front page."
In addition to being disrespectful and traumatizing for family members, public health researchers warned that detailed coverage of suicides can influence people's decision to commit suicide.
"Morbid thoughts are like a contagion," said Cheng Tai-ann (鄭泰安), professor at the National Taiwan University College of Public Health.
The Taipei Times' sister publication the Liberty Times was singled out by Cheng for yesterday's coverage of a man who killed himself by burning charcoal in his car.
"We have a series of photographs from the place where he died to the charcoal brazier to a picture of the dead man in the car," Cheng said. "It's practically a how-to."
Cheng studied the aftermath of the suicide of popular comedian Ni Min-jan (
"For seventeen days after the story broke on May 2, coverage of Min's suicide was relentless," Cheng said. "When we analyzed the data, we saw that the male suicide rate increased by 30 percent in May while the female suicide rate did not increase."
"We can clearly see a modeling effect at work and the media must bear some responsibility," he said.
Cheng said the overwhelmingly sympathetic nature of the coverage toward Min could actually have made the situation more dangerous.
"Media reports that simplify the cause of the suicide and those that give the dead a lot of sympathy can cause people to think of suicide as the solution to their problems," Min said.
Richard Chung, secretary-general of the Satellite Television Broadcasting Association of the Republic of China said the television news industry was aware of the problem of over-reporting suicides and claimed guidelines modeled on WHO recommendations were respected.
"Our industry is doing it's best to self-regulate," Chung said.
"You will never see live coverage [of people about to commit suicide] like you did in the old days," he said, "we now have a meeting every two months where we look at criticism from media watchdogs and public health experts."
However, Lin dismissed the industry's self-regulatory procedures as public relations efforts with no concrete results.
"Just look at their output," Lin said.
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