Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals Update 2017 International Association for Suicide Prevention WHO/MSD/MER/17.5 © World Health Organization 2017 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”. Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Suggested citation. Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals, update 2017. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017 (WHO/MSD/MER/17.5). Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data. CIP data are available at http://apps.who.int/iris. Sales, rights and licensing. To purchase WHO publications, see http://apps.who.int/bookorders. To submit requests for commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, see http://www.who.int/about/licensing. Third-party materials. If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse and to obtain permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user. General disclaimers. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WHO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall WHO be liable for damages arising from its use. Printed in Switzerland Contents Foreword Responsible reporting on suicide: quick reference guide Introduction Scientific evidence of media impacts on suicidal behaviour Responsible reporting Provide accurate information about where to seek help Educate the public about the facts of suicide and suicide prevention, without spreading myths Report stories of how to cope with life stressors or suicidal thoughts, and how to get help Apply particular caution when reporting celebrity suicides Apply caution when interviewing bereaved family or friends Recognize that media professionals themselves may be affected by stories about suicide Do not place stories about suicide prominently and do not unduly repeat such stories Do not use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, or presents it as a constructive solution to problems Do not explicitly describe the method used Do not provide details about the site/location Do not use sensational headlines Do not use photographs, video footage or social media links Sources of reliable information Annex 1: Considerations for digital media Annex 2: Reporting on mass shootings and terrorism Annex 3: Overview of the scientific literature on media impacts Annex 4: Myths and facts about suicide v viii 01 03 04 04 04 04 04 05 05 06 06 06 06 07 07 08 09 10 11 17 iii
Foreword Suicide is a serious global public health problem that demands our attention but preventing suicide is no easy task. Current research indicates that the prevention of suicide, while feasible, involves a whole series of activities, ranging from provision of the best possible conditions for bringing up our children and young people, through accurate and timely assessment of mental disorders and their effective treatment, to the environmental control of risk factors. Appropriate dissemination of information and awareness-raising are essential elements in the success of suicide prevention. Cultural, age- and gender-related variations need to be taken into account in all these activities. In 1999 the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its worldwide initiative for the prevention of suicide. This booklet is the second revised version of one of the resources prepared which are addressed to specific social and professional groups that are particularly relevant to the prevention of suicide. The revised booklet is the product of continuing collaboration between WHO and the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP). It represents a link in a long and diversified chain involving a wide range of people and groups, including health professionals, educators, social agencies, governments, legislators, social communicators, law enforcers, families and communities. We are particularly indebted to Professor Diego de Leo, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, who produced the first version of this booklet. Our gratitude also goes to Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, SNEHA, Chennai, India, for her assistance in the technical editing. The original text was reviewed by the following members of the WHO International Network for Suicide Prevention, to whom we are grateful: Dr Sergio Pérez Barrero, Hospital de Bayamo, Granma, Cuba; Dr Annette Beautrais, Christchurch School of Medicine, Christchurch, New Zealand; Dr Ahmed Okasha, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; Professor Lourens Schlebusch, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa; Professor Jean-Pierre Soubrier, Centre de Ressources en Suicidologie (CRES), Paris, France; Professor Airi Värnik, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; Professor Danuta Wasserman, National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Dr Shutao Zhai, Nanjing Medical University Brain Hospital, Nanjing, China. The first revision of the booklet was undertaken by the Media Task Force of IASP under the leadership of Associate Professor Jane Pirkis, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. The current update of this booklet was undertaken by the Task Force on Media Recommendations for Suicide Reporting of IASP. We should like to specifically thank Associate Professor Dr Thomas Niederkrotenthaler (Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria) and Dr Daniel Reidenberg (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), USA), co-chairs of the Task Force on Media Recommendations for Suicide Reporting of IASP, who had lead responsibility for this update. We also thank the following members of the Task Force on Media Recommendations for Suicide Reporting of IASP for their contributions: Mr Karl Andriessen, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Professor Ella Arensman, Department of v Epidemiology and Public Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Ms Jane Arigho, Headline, Dublin, Ireland; Dr Loraine Barnaby, Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica; Dr Jo Bell, School of Health and Social Work, University of Hull, Hull, England; Professor Silvia Sara Canetto, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA; Assistant Professor Qijin Cheng, Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR), China; Professor Sunny Collings, Social Psychiatry and Population Mental Health Research Unit, University of Otago, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand; Professor Diego De Leo, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Professor Elmar Etzersdorfer, Furtbachkrankenhaus, Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Stuttgart, Germany; Professor Madelyn Gould, Columbia University Medical Center, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA; Professor Gopalkrishna Gururaj, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India; Professor Keith Hawton, Centre for Suicide Research, Oxford University, Oxford, England; Ms Irina Inostroza, STOP Suicide, Geneva, Switzerland; Dr Karolina Krysinska, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Ms Caroline Lowe, Investigative Journalism, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Dr Ann Luce, School of Journalism, English and Communication, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, England; Associate Professor Lisa Marzano, Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, England; Professor Brian Mishara, Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide and Euthanasia, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, Canada; Dr Charles-Edouard Notredame, University Medical Center, Regional Hospital University Centre of Lille, Lille, France; Professor Jane Pirkis, Centre for Mental Health, University of Melbourne, elbourne, Australia; Professor Steve Platt, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland; Dr Sebastian Scherr, Department of Communication Science and Media Research, University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany; Professor Merike Sisask, Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute (ERSI), School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; Mrs Jaelea Skehan, Hunter Institute of Mental Health, Australia; Professor Gernot Sonneck, Crisis Intervention Centre Vienna, Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Professor Steven Stack, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA; Assistant Professor Benedikt Till, Suicide Research Unit, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; Dr Michael Westerlund, Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Professor Paul Yip, Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. We are also grateful to the following experts who reviewed the current version: Dr Andrea Bruni, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Vladimir Carli, NASP, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Dr Jorge Castro, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Claudina Cayetano, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Mrs Bridgette Hausman, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Dévora Kestel, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Kairi Kolves, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Mr Ed Mantler, Mental Health vi Commission of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Mrs Carmen Martinez, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Professor Michael Phillips, Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Dr Jerry Reed, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Washington, DC, USA; Professor Jean-Pierre Soubrier, CRES, Paris, France; Mrs Kim Torguson, Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Voluntary Health Services, SNEHA, Chennai, India; Professor Danuta Wasserman, NASP, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. We also thank Mr David Bramley, Switzerland for editing, Mr Denis Meissner, World Health Organization for the cover, and Mr Yusuke Nakazawa, Japan for graphic design and layout. The World Health Organization gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Government of Japan in the production of this booklet. The collaboration of IASP with WHO on its activities related with suicide prevention is greatly appreciated. This resource is being widely disseminated in the hope that it will be translated and adapted to local conditions which is a prerequisite for its effectiveness. Comments and requests for permission to translate and adapt the resource will be welcome. Alexandra Fleischmann Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse World Health Organization Ella Arensman President International Association for Suicide Prevention vii Responsible reporting on suicide: quick reference guide • Do provide accurate information about where to seek help • Do educate the public about the facts of suicide and suicide prevention, without spreading myths • Do report stories of how to cope with life stressors or suicidal thoughts, and how to get help • Do apply particular caution when reporting celebrity suicides • Do apply caution when interviewing bereaved family or friends • Do recognize that media professionals themselves may be affected by stories about suicide Dos • Don’t place stories about suicide prominently and don't unduly repeat such stories • Don’t use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, or presents it as a constructive solution to problems • Don’t explicitly describe the method used • Don’t provide details about the site/location • Don’t use sensational headlines • Don’t use photographs, video footage or social media links Don’ts viii Introduction Suicide is a major public health problem, with far-reaching social, emotional and economic consequences. There are approximately 800 000 suicides a year worldwide, and it is estimated that at least six people are directly affected by each suicide death. The factors contributing to suicide and its prevention are complex and not fully understood, but there is increasing evidence that the media can play a significant role in either enhancing or weakening suicide prevention efforts. Media reports about suicide may minimize the risk of imitative (copycat) suicide or increase the risk. The media may provide useful educational information about suicide or may spread misinformation about it. On the one hand, vulnerable individuals are at risk of engaging in imitative behaviours following media reports of suicide, particularly if the coverage is extensive, prominent, sensational, explicitly describes the method of suicide, and condones or repeats widely-held myths about suicide. The risk is particularly pronounced when the person who died by suicide had a high social status and/or can easily be identified with. Reports about suicide that trigger subsequent suicides are often repeated over a longer period. The effect of media reports on increasing suicides is referred to as the “Werther effect”, named after the title character in Goethe’s novel The sorrows of young Werther, who dies by suicide when faced with the loss of his love. On the other hand, responsible reporting about suicide may help to educate the public about suicide and its prevention, may encourage those at risk of suicide to take alternative actions and may inspire a more open and hopeful dialogue in general. Stories demonstrating help-seeking (positive coping) in adverse circumstances may strengthen protective factors or barriers to suicide and thus contribute to its prevention. Media reports about suicide should always include information about where to seek help, preferably from recognized suicide prevention services that are available on a 24/7 basis. Protective effects of responsible media reporting about suicide have been referred to in the scientific literature as the “Papageno effect”, named after the character Papageno in Mozart’s opera The magic flute, who becomes suicidal when he fears he has lost his love, but is reminded of alternatives to suicide at the last moment and subsequently chooses an alternative route of action. Media recommendations need to be tailored to traditional media as well as digital media and should aim to reach as many people as possible about suicide prevention. A specific characteristic of digital media is that information can be spread very quickly and, thus, is more difficult to monitor and control. Despite the differences between digital media and more traditional media, findings from research on the effects of traditional media on suicidal behaviour can help inform suicide prevention initiatives in digital media. Conversely, lessons learned about the potential role of digital media in the increase or prevention of suicidal behaviour can help inform suicide prevention initiatives in traditional media. This resource booklet briefly summarizes the current evidence on the impact of media reporting of suicide, and provides information for media professionals about how to report 01 on suicide, recognizing that there are times when a suicide will need to be reported on the grounds of its newsworthiness. The booklet makes suggestions about how best to ensure that such reporting is accurate, responsible and appropriate. It is applicable to both traditional and digital media reporting. This resource booklet acknowledges that the reporting of suicide and its portrayal in various media types differ within and across countries. There are cultural differences in terms of what is appropriate to report and how information about a given suicide is accessed. While this booklet is designed to provide guiding principles about media reporting that apply across cultures, media professionals are encouraged to work with their local suicide prevention community and to draw on local media reporting guidelines, if available. Suicide prevention experts in the area of media reporting are active around the globe, as evidenced by the number of international experts who have contributed to this booklet. They are ready, available and willing to work with media professionals to ensure that reporting of suicide is responsible and encourages accurate messaging and avoids posing a risk to vulnerable persons. In some countries, guidelines for the reporting of suicide have been incorporated into codes of conduct for the press. The booklet is designed for media professionals working in print, broadcast and online media. Most of the recommendations are relevant to reporting across all media, but some relate specifically to print media or digital media. A brief summary of considerations for digital media can be found in Annex 1. It is beyond the scope of this resource to address issues which are specific to websites, films, television soap operas or stage plays. For related information, see resources of the Entertainment Industry Council (http://www.eiconline.org/). Reporting on mass shootings and terrorism is addressed in Annex 2. 02 Scientific evidence of media impacts on suicidal behaviour Reporting as a risk factor of suicidal behaviour Over 100 investigations have been conducted into imitative (copycat) suicides (i.e. suicides that appear to be directly related to media reports about one or more suicides). Systematic reviews of these studies have consistently drawn the same conclusion: media reporting of suicide cases can lead to subsequent, additional, suicidal behaviours. These reviews also conclude that copycat suicidal behaviour is more likely under some circumstances than others. In particular, repeated coverage and high-impact/high-profile stories are most strongly associated with copycat behaviour. The effect of a report about a suicide on subsequent suicides is greater when the person described in the story is a celebrity and is held in high regard by the reader or viewer. Particular subgroups in the population (such as young people, people suffering from mental illness, persons with a history of suicidal behaviour or those bereaved by suicide) are particularly vulnerable to engaging in imitative suicidal behaviour. The risk is most pronounced when the characteristics of the person who died by suicide and those of the reader or viewer are similar in some way and when the reader or viewer identifies with the featured person. Additionally, the content of stories also plays an important role: stories that confirm or repeat myths about suicide or that include a detailed description of a particular method of suicide are more likely to result in copycat suicides. However, media reports about suicides written in accordance with media guidelines show strong potential to help prevent suicide and do not usually trigger further suicides. Positive impacts of reporting Whereas there is a relatively long history of research on the harmful effects of media reports about suicide, in the last few years more and more research has focused on the potential benefits of responsible media reporting about suicide. Media reports on persons who were in adverse life circumstances but who managed to cope constructively with their suicidal thoughts have been associated with decreases in suicidal behaviour. Further studies suggest that educative media portrayals featuring how to cope with suicidal thoughts may help reduce suicidal behaviour. A more detailed overview of the scientific literature on media impacts is provided in Annex 3. 03 Responsible reporting Provide accurate information about where to seek help Information about support resources should be provided at the end of all stories about suicide. The specific resources should include suicide prevention centres, crisis helplines, other health and welfare professionals, and self-help groups. Information about where to seek help should include services that are recognized in the community as being of high quality and accessible 24/7, if available. These resources should provide access to support for persons who are distressed or prompted to consider suicide as a result of the story. The address or contact information of listed resources should be checked regularly to ensure that it is accurate. However, providing a long list of potential resources can be counter-productive; therefore, only a limited number of resources (e.g. one phone number and one website) should be provided. Educate the public about the facts of suicide and suicide prevention, without spreading myths There are many misconceptions about suicide. Research has shown that media reports that repeat these myths are more likely to trigger imitative behaviour. Studies have also shown that the public tends to recall the myths in “myths versus facts” stories in the media. Some of the most common myths and facts about suicide are listed in Annex 4. Consequently, it is preferable to lead with facts about suicide. Apart from carefully researching facts when discussing suicide, it is always helpful to report on how to prevent suicide, to include the message that people who are suicidal should seek help, and to indicate how to access that help. Report stories of how to cope with life stressors or suicidal thoughts, and how to get help Providing personal narratives of people who managed to cope with adverse circumstances and suicidality may help others in difficult life situations to adopt similar positive coping strategies. Stories that integrate educative materials explaining how to get help when faced with seemingly insurmountable difficulties are also encouraged. These stories typically feature specific ways adopted by others to overcome their suicidal thoughts, and highlight what can be done to get help if one is suicidal. Apply particular caution when reporting celebrity suicides Celebrity suicides are considered newsworthy and it is often considered to be in the public interest to report them. However, such reports are particularly likely to induce copycat suicides in vulnerable persons. Glorifying a celebrity’s death may inadvertently suggest that society honours suicidal behaviour and thus may promote suicidal behaviour in others. For this reason, special care should be taken when reporting celebrity suicides. Such reports should not glamourize the suicide or describe the suicide method in detail. A focus on the celebrity’s life, how he or she contributed to society, and how their death negatively affects others is preferable to reporting details of the suicidal act or providing simplistic reasons for why the suicide occurred. Additionally, care should be taken when reporting a celebrity’s death when the cause of death is not immediately known. Media speculation about suicide as a possible cause of a celebrity’s death can be harmful. It is more appropriate to wait for the cause of death to become known and to research the 04 specific circumstances carefully. As noted above, reports should always include information about access to support resources for those who are, or might become, distressed or suicidal due to the death. Apply caution when interviewing bereaved family or friends The views of persons who have experienced a loss from suicide can be a very valuable resource for educating others about the realities of suicide. However, several key considerations should be taken into account when collecting such information and including it in a media report about suicide. There needs to be caution when involving family, friends and others who are grieving over an acute loss and who might be in a crisis situation. A decision to interview someone who has been bereaved by suicide should never be taken lightly. Such persons are at increased risk of suicide or self-harm while they are dealing with their grief. Respect for their privacy should take precedence over writing a dramatic story. In some countries, journalists are guided by a code of conduct when undertaking such interviews. It is important for media professionals to recognize that, as part of their investigations, they may gain knowledge about a suicide or the deceased that witnesses and/or the bereaved do not have. The publication of such material could be harmful to those who are bereaved by the suicide. Reporters also need to carefully consider the accuracy of any information received from the bereaved during an interview because their recall of specific memories, statements or behaviours of the suicide may be clouded by acute grief. In instances where reporting is not related to a recent loss, people who have managed to cope with loss due to suicide and want to contribute to a media story can be an important resource for increasing awareness and providing viable options for others on how to cope with similar circumstances. However, even if the actual loss occurred a long time ago, it is important to remember that talking about past experiences with suicide may trigger painful memories and emotions. Persons bereaved by suicide who volunteer to speak with the media may be unaware of the potential personal consequences of widespread public dissemination of detailed private information; therefore, this should be discussed with the individual beforehand, and steps should be taken to protect their privacy. Whenever possible, the bereaved should be shown reports containing their personal accounts prior to publication in order to allow corrections or other changes before publication. Recognize that media professionals themselves may be affected by stories about suicide Preparing a story about a suicide may resonate with media professionals' own experiences. The effect can occur in all settings, but may be particularly pronounced in small, close-knit communities where media professionals have strong local connections. There is an obligation on media organizations to ensure that necessary supports – such as debriefing opportunities and mentoring arrangements – are in place for media professionals. Individual media professionals should not hesitate to seek help if they are negatively affected in any way. 05 Do not place stories about suicide prominently and do not unduly repeat such stories Prominent placement and undue repetition of stories about suicide are more likely to lead to subsequent incidents of suicidal behaviour than more subtle presentations. Newspaper stories about suicide should ideally be located on the inside pages, towards the bottom of the page, rather than on the front page or at the top of an inside page. Similarly, broadcast stories about suicide should be presented in the second or third break of television news, and further down the order of radio reports or online posts, rather than as the lead item. Caution should be exercised regarding the repetition or updating of the original story. Do not use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, or presents it as a constructive solution to problems Language that sensationalizes suicide should be avoided. For example, it is much better to report on “increasing suicide rates” than on a “suicide epidemic”. When reporting on a suicide, the use of language that conveys the message that suicide is a public health problem and identifies risk factors, combined with a message about the prevention of suicide, can help to educate the public about the importance of suicide prevention. Language that misinforms the public about suicide, normalizes it or provides simplistic explanations for a suicide should also be avoided. Apparent changes in suicide statistics should be verified, as they may signal temporary fluctuations rather than statistically reliable increases or decreases. Out-of-context use of the word “suicide” – such as, for instance, “political suicide” – may serve to desensitize the public to its gravity. Terms like “unsuccessful suicide” or “successful suicide”, implying that death is a desirable outcome, should not be used; alternative phrases such as “non-fatal suicidal behaviour” are more accurate and less open to misinterpretation. The phrase “committed suicide” implies criminality (suicide remains a criminal offence in some countries) and unnecessarily increases the stigma experienced by those who have lost a person to suicide. It is better to say “died by suicide” or “took his/her life”. Do not explicitly describe the method used Detailed description and/or discussion of the method should be avoided because this will increase the likelihood that a vulnerable person will copy the act. In reporting an overdose, for example it could be harmful to detail the brand/name, nature, quantity or combination of drugs taken, or how they were obtained. Caution should also be exercised when the method of suicide is rare or novel. While use of an unusual method may appear to make the death more newsworthy, reporting the method may trigger other people to use this method. New methods can spread easily via sensationalist media reporting – an effect that can be accelerated via social media. Do not provide details about the site/location Sometimes a location can develop a reputation as a “suicide site” – e.g. a bridge, a tall building, a cliff or a railway station or crossing where suicidal acts have occurred. 06 Particular care should be taken by media professionals not to promote such locations as suicide sites by, for instance, using sensationalist language to describe them or overplaying the number of incidents occurring at that location. Similar caution is necessary when reporting about suicides or suicide attempts in educational settings or specific institutions, particularly those for vulnerable individuals (e.g. prisons and psychiatric units/hospitals). Do not use sensational headlines Headlines serve the purpose of attracting the reader’s attention by giving the essence of the story in as few words as possible. The word “suicide” should not be used in the headline, and explicit reference to the method or site of the suicide should be avoided. If headlines are written by other media professionals than those working on the main text, the author of the main text should work with the headline writer to ensure that an appropriate headline is selected. Do not use photographs, video footage or digital media links Photographs, video footage or social media links of the scene of a suicide should not be used, particularly if reference is made to specific details of the location or method. In addition, great caution is required in the use of pictures of a person who has died by suicide. If images are used, explicit permission should be obtained from family members. These images should not be prominently placed and should not glamorize the individual or the suicidal act. Research shows that pictures associated with suicidal acts can be reactivated by vulnerable readers later, such as during a personal crisis, and may then trigger suicidal behaviour. Coordination of editorial work on text and pictures is recommended, as individuals responsible for the text are sometimes not responsible for the use of images. Suicide notes, final text messages, social media posts and emails from the deceased individual should not be published. 07 Sources of reliable information Sources of reliable statistics and other information about suicide should be used by media professionals when reporting about suicide. Government statistics agencies in many countries provide data on their annual suicide rates, usually by age and sex. WHO Member States report mortality data, including suicide, to WHO (http://www.who.int/healthinfo/mortality_data/en/). Data and statistics should be interpreted carefully and correctly. 1 Media professionals should seek advice from local suicide prevention experts when preparing stories about suicide. These experts can help interpret data about suicide, ensure that reports about suicide avoid increasing the risk of copycat suicide, dispel myths about suicidal behaviour, and provide useful information about recognizing and helping persons who are thinking about taking their own lives. National or regional suicide prevention organizations often have specific contact details for the media. Many countries have associations that provide information about suicide. Some of these associations also have a role in suicide prevention, offer support to people who are experiencing suicidal thoughts or have been bereaved by suicide, provide advocacy services, and/or foster research about suicide. The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) is the international equivalent of these associations. The IASP website (https://www.iasp.info) includes useful background information for media professionals preparing stories on suicide, including lists of suicide prevention services and media guidelines for reporting on suicide from several countries. Leading experts, suicide prevention services and public health organizations have also developed best practice recommendations for reporting on suicide in multiple languages (http://www.reportingonsuicide.org). 1 Some caution should be exercised in making international comparisons of rates, because countries have different legal regulations and procedures which may influence the way in which deaths are identified, certified and recorded as suicides. 08 Annex 1. Considerations for digital media Nowadays people obtain their information from a much broader range of sources than they did in the past, and there is increasing overlap between traditional media and online media. The Internet has become an important platform for information and communication about suicide, especially among young people and persons at high risk of suicide. This booklet can be used for media reporting in both traditional and digital media. However, there are additional challenges with regard to reporting on suicide in digital media and managing potential suicidal content online. Specific guidelines have been created in recent years to address these challenges. It is important to avoid the hyperlinking of suicidal material in social media. Video or audio footage (e.g. emergency calls) or social media links to the scene of a suicide should not be used, particularly if the location or method is clearly presented. In addition, great caution is necessary when using pictures of a person who has died by suicide. Search engine optimization efforts need to be carefully balanced against the use of harmful wording, particularly when it comes to writing the headline. As is true for traditional media, data visualizations should be carefully checked to prevent the exaggeration or sensationalization of statistics about suicide. Adequate policies should be established by the managers of media platforms for dealing with potentially suicidal content in the comments sections of digital media, such as online newspapers or print newspapers’ websites, and for timely responses to content relating to suicide. A set of best practices for online technologies (http://www.preventtheattempt.com) has been developed to serve small, medium-sized and large organizations and companies with online representations. Basic, mid-level and advanced-level recommendations are offered about how to integrate online resources with interactive components for suicide prevention. Basic recommendations include: the provision of a help centre with information on supportive resources and Frequently asked questions (FAQ) on suicide, policies on how to respond to potentially suicidal users, regulations on the involvement of law enforcement, timeliness of responses to suicidal content, and information on where to refer potentially suicidal individuals. Another set of recommendations has been developed for bloggers (https://www.bloggingonsuicide.org) by Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE). These recommendations are based on the content of guidelines for traditional media, highlighting safety concerns that are frequently encountered in blogs and how to deal with them. 09 Annex 2. Reporting on mass shootings and terrorism Research on the imitative effects of media reports about mass shootings and terrorism is not as extensive as research on the copycat effects of media reports about suicides. However, there is some evidence that sensationalist reporting about killings can trigger further homicidal actions. These incidents typically receive considerable media attention, and may or may not include self-directed violence after, or as part of, the murder(s). If such an event includes suicide, it should not be described as a suicide attack or suicide bombing because this magnifies the negative labelling of suicidal behaviour. Referring to such events as “homicidal bombings” or “mass killings” would be more appropriate because the main purpose of these acts is to kill others; only some of the perpetrators may actually be suicidal. In reporting these killings, it is important to remember that the perpetrator may not be suicidal and may not have a mental illness; most mass shootings are not committed by persons with a diagnosed mental disorder. An international expert team lead by Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) has developed recommendations (https://www.reportingonmassshootings.org) for reporting such events – including reducing the media attention on the perpetrators, because such emphasis can potentially lead others to identify with them and be inspired by them to commit similar acts. 10 Annex 3. Overview of the scientific literature on media impacts Harmful media impacts The earliest evidence of the impact of the media on suicidal behaviour was provided in the late 18th century when Goethe published The sorrows of young Werther, in which Werther shoots himself because he falls in love with a woman who is beyond his reach. The novel was implicated in a spate of suicides across Europe. Many of those who died by suicide were dressed in a similar fashion to Werther and adopted his method or were found with a copy of Goethe’s book. Consequently the book was banned in several European countries. The evidence for imitative suicidal behaviours occurring in response to the reporting or portrayal of suicide remained anecdotal until the 1970s when Phillips (1) published a study which retrospectively compared the number of suicides that occurred in the months in which a front-page article on suicide appeared in the United States press with the number that occurred in the months in which no such article appeared. During the 20-year study period, there were 33 months during which a front-page suicide article was published, and there was a significant increase in the number of suicides in 26 of those 33 months. Imitation effects were also found by Schmidtke & Häfner (2) after the broadcast of a television series. Since Phillips’ study, over 100 other investigations into imitative suicides have been conducted. Collectively, these studies have strengthened the body of evidence in a number of ways. First, they have used improved methodologies. For example, Wasserman (3) and Stack (4) replicated the findings from Phillips’ original study and extended the observation period, using more complex time-series regression techniques, and considered rates rather than absolute numbers of suicide. Second, these studies have examined different media. For instance, Bollen & Phillips (5) and Stack (6) examined the impact of suicide stories that were given national coverage on television news in the USA and found significant increases in suicide rates following such broadcasts. Furthermore, although most of the early studies were conducted in the USA and considered suicide only, later studies broadened the scope to Asian and European countries and included a focus on suicide attempts. For example, studies by Cheng et al. (7, 8), Yip et al. (9) and Chen et al. (10) demonstrated increases in suicides and suicide attempts following the news coverage of celebrity suicides in China (Province of Taiwan and Hong Kong SAR), and the Republic of Korea, respectively. A study by Etzersdorfer, Voracek & Sonneck (11) reported similar results following coverage of a celebrity suicide in the largest Austrian newspaper, with increases in suicides being more pronounced in regions where distribution of the newspaper was greatest. More recent studies also assessed the characteristics of the content of media reports before assessing media effects. This is reflected in studies by Pirkis and colleagues that differentiated various types of media reports on the basis of differences in content (12). They found that repetitive stories reporting suicide methods and reinforcing public misconceptions about suicide were associated with subsequent increases in suicides. Notably, Gould and colleagues found that youth copycat suicides were more likely to be triggered by newspaper stories that were more prominent (i.e. front-page placement or inclusion of a picture), more explicit (i.e. with headlines containing the word “suicide” or specifying the method used), more detailed (i.e. including the deceased’s name, the details of the method, or the presence of a suicide note), and reporting on suicide death rather than suicide attempt (13). 11 Systematic reviews of studies in the area of media and suicide have consistently reached the same conclusion: media reporting of suicide can lead to subsequent increases in suicidal behaviours (14-17). These reviews have also observed that the likelihood of an increase in suicidal behaviours varies as a function of the time after the news report, usually peaking within the first three days and levelling off by about two weeks (5, 18), but sometimes lasting longer (19). The increase is related to the amount and prominence of coverage, with repeated coverage and high-impact stories being most strongly associated with imitative behaviours (10, 11, 20-22). Such behaviours are accentuated when the person described in the story and the reader or viewer are similar in some way (22, 23), or when the person described in the story is a celebrity and is held in high regard by the reader or viewer (3, 4, 7, 9, 22, 24). Sensationalist or glamourized reporting on suicides of entertainment industry celebrities appears to be associated with the greatest increases in subsequent suicides (25). Combined evidence across studies has shown that the average increase in suicide rates in the month subsequent to sensationalist news media reporting on a celebrity suicide is 0.26 per 100 000 population, but the estimated effect is even more pronounced for reports on the suicides of entertainers (0.64 per 100 000 population) (25). Media effects also depend on the characteristics of the audience. Some subgroups in the population (young people, people suffering from depression, and persons who identify with the deceased) seem especially vulnerable and are therefore more likely to show increased rates of suicidal thoughts or imitative suicidal behaviours (18, 26-29). Overt description of suicide by a particular method often leads to increases in suicidal behaviour employing that method (10, 30-33). Protective media impacts There is also some evidence regarding the potential for the media to exert a positive influence. This evidence comes from studies which considered whether best-practice media reporting of suicide could lead to a reduction in the rates of suicide and suicide attempts. Etzersdorfer and colleagues showed that the introduction of media guidelines on the reporting of suicides on the Vienna subway resulted in a reduction in sensational reporting of these suicides and, in turn, a 75% decrease in the rate of subway suicides and a 20% decrease in the overall suicide rate in Vienna (34-36). The repeated distribution of these guidelines resulted in an improvement in the quality of reporting about suicide and a reduction in the Austria’s national suicide rate, with the positive impact most pronounced in regions with strong media collaboration (37). Studies from Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Germany and Switzerland have similarly shown that media guidelines were positively related to the quality of reporting on suicide. However, the effectiveness of media guidelines depends on their successful implementation (38, 39). Experience from several countries – including Australia (http://www.mindframe-media.info), Austria (http://www.suizidforschung.at), China, Hong Kong SAR (http://www.csrp.hku.hk/media/), Switzerland (http://www.stopsuicide.ch), the United Kingdom (http://www.samaritans.org/media-centre/) and the USA (http://www.reportingonsuicide.org) – provide important insights on the implementation of media guidelines, which could be instructive for other countries. Further evidence of a possible suicide-protective effect of certain media reports comes from a study by Niederkrotenthaler and colleagues, who found that a specific class of articles that focused on positive coping/mastery of crises was associated with decreases in suicide rates in 12 the geographical area where the published media reports reached a large proportion of the population (21). This protective media potential has been labelled the Papageno effect after the character in Mozart’s opera The magic flute who considers suicide but changes his plan when reminded of alternatives to dying. Following this first study on the Papageno effect, some other studies have identified protective impacts by media materials that address constructive coping and provide information on suicide prevention (28, 38, 40). Overall, reviews of media and suicide find that, while there is evidence for both beneficial and harmful impacts of the media on suicide prevention, most research to date has focused on the harmful impacts (17). Digital media The very little research that is yet available about the impact of suicide-related depictions online suggests that both protective and harmful effects are possible. Digital media are considered a potentially valuable resource for persons in need of help when suicidal because online media sites are easily accessible and are often used by young people. Persons at risk for suicide frequently report feeling less alienated when using social media and sometimes report that their online activities have reduced suicidal thoughts. This is particularly the case for activities on websites and message boards that offer constructive help and actively avoid normalizing or condoning suicidal behaviour. However, the potential to normalize suicidal behaviours, the access to images about suicide and suicide methods, and the creation of communication channels that can be used for bullying and harassment are of major concern (41, 42). There are also pro-suicide sites that describe the specifics of different suicide methods, encourage suicidal behaviour, or recruit individuals for suicide pacts. An increasing number of case studies indicate that message boards can serve as a tool for learning about suicide methods, and can promote suicidal behaviour in vulnerable persons. Conclusion There is strong support for the contention that sensationalist media reports about suicide can lead to subsequent additional suicidal behaviours (suicides and suicide attempts). These time-limited increases in suicides are not simply the early occurrence of suicides that would have happened anyway (if this were the case, they would be followed by a commensurate decrease in suicide rates); they are additional suicides that would not have occurred in the absence of the inappropriate media reporting. Studies of the potential protective effects of responsible media reporting of suicide have started only quite recently and the evidence for the benefits of this type of reporting is currently emerging. Media professionals should exercise caution in reporting on suicide, balancing the public’s “right to know” against the risk of causing harm. 13 Phillips DP. The influence of suggestion on suicide: substantive and theoretical implications of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1974;39(3):340-54. Schmidtke A, Häfner H. The Werther effect after television films: new evidence for an old hypothesis. Psychol Med. 1988;18(3):665-76. Wasserman IM. Imitation and suicide: a re-examination of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1984;49(3):427-36. Stack S. A reanalysis of the impact of non-celebrity suicides: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1990;25(5):269-73. Bollen KA, Phillips DP. Imitative suicides: a national study of the effects of television news stories. Am Sociol Rev. 1982;47(6):802-9. Stack S. The effect of publicized mass murders and murder-suicides on lethal violence, 1968-1980: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1989;24(4):202-8. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Lee CTC, Chen THH. The influence of media reporting of the suicide of a celebrity on suicide rates: a population-based study. Int J Epidemiol. 2007;36(6):1229-34. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chen CY, Chen LC, et al. The influence of media coverage of a celebrity suicide on subsequent suicide attempts. J Clin Psychiatry. 2007;68(6):862-6. Yip PSF, Fu KW, Yang KCT, Ip BYT, Chan CLW, Chen EYH et al. The effects of a celebrity suicide on suicide rates in Hong Kong. J Affect Disord. 2006;93(1-3):245-52. Chen YY, Yip PS, Chan CH, Fu KW, Chang SS, Lee WJ et al. The impact of a celebrity's suicide on the introduction and establishment of a new method of suicide in South Korea. Arch Suicide Res. 2014;18(2):221-6. Etzersdorfer E, Voracek M, Sonneck G. A dose-response relationship of imitational suicides with newspaper distribution. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001;35(2):251. Pirkis JE, Burgess PM, Francis C, Blood RW, Jolley DJ. The relationship between media reporting of suicide and actual suicide in Australia. Soc Sci Med. 2006;62:2874–86. Gould M., Kleinman MH, Lake AM, Forman J, Basset Midle J. Newspaper coverage of suicide and initiation of suicide clusters in teenagers in the USA, 1988-96: a retrospective, population-based, case-control study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2014;1(1): 34-43. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70225-1. Pirkis J, Blood RW. Suicide and the media: (1) Reportage in non-fictional media. Crisis. 2001;22(4):146-54. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 14 Stack S. Media impacts on suicide: a quantitative review of 293 findings. Soc Sci Q. 2000;81(4):957-72. Stack S. Suicide in the media: a quantitative review of studies based on non-fictional stories. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2005;35(2):121-33. Sisask M, Värnik A. Media roles in suicide prevention: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2012;9(1):123-38. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide. N Engl J Med. 1986;315(11):685-9. Fu KW, Yip PSF. Long-term impact of celebrity suicide on suicidal ideation: Results from a population-based study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007;61(6):540-6. Hassan R. Effects of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia: a research note. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1995;29(3):480-3. Niederkrotenthaler T, Voracek M, Herberth A, Till B, Strauss M, Etzersdorfer E et al. Role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide – Werther v. Papageno effects. Br J Psychiatry. 2010;197:234–43. Niederkrotenthaler T, Till B, Voracek M, Dervic K, Kapusta ND, Sonneck G. Copycat-effects after media reports on suicide: a population-based ecologic study. Soc Sci Med. 2009;69:1085–90. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckp034. Stack S. Audience receptiveness, the media, and aged suicide, 1968-1980. J Aging Stud. 1990;4(2):195-209. Stack S. Celebrities and suicide: a taxonomy and analysis. Am Sociol Rev. 1987;52 (3):401-12. Niederkrotenthaler T, Fu KW, Yip P, Fong DYT, Stack S, Cheng Q, et al. Changes in suicide rates following media reports on celebrity suicides: a meta-analysis. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012;66:1037–42. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chang JC, Chong MY et al. The influence of media reporting of a celebrity suicide on suicidal behaviour in patients with a history of depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2007;103:69-75. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. The effect of suicide stories on various demographic groups, 1968-1985. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1988;18(1):100-14. Till B, Strauss M, Sonneck G, Niederkrotenthaler T. Determining the effects of films with suicidal content: a laboratory experiment. Br J Psychiatry. 2015;207(1):72-8. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.152827. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 15 Scherr S, Reinemann C. Belief in a Werther effect: third-person effects in the perceptions of suicide risk for others and the moderating role of depression. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2011;41(6):624–34. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning: a current epidemic. BMJ. 1979;2(6193):769-70. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning as an epidemic phenomenon: an analysis of 82 deaths and inquests in England and Wales in 1978-79. Psychol Med. 1981;11(4):735-9. Veysey MJ, Kamanyire R, Volans GN. Antifreeze poisonings give more insight into copycat behaviour. BMJ. 1999;319(7217):1131. Hawton K, Simkin S, Deeks J, O'Connor S, Keen A, Altman DG et al. Effects of a drug overdose in a television drama on presentations to hospital for self-poisoning: time series and questionnaire study. BMJ. 1996;318(7189):972-7. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G. Preventing suicide by influencing mass- media reporting: the Viennese experience 1980-1996. Arch Suicide Res. 1998;4(1):64-74. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G, Nagel Kuess S. Newspaper reports and suicide. N Engl J Med. 1992;327(7):502-3. Sonneck G, Etzersdorfer E, Nagel Kuess S. Imitative suicide on the Viennese subway. Soc Sci Med. 1994;38(3):453-7. Niederkrotenthaler T, Sonneck G. Assessing the impact of media guidelines for reporting on suicides in Austria: interrupted time series analysis. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2007;41(5):419-28. Stack S, Niederkrotenthaler T, editors. Media and suicide: international perspectives on research, theory & policy. Piscataway (NJ): Transaction Publishers; 2017. Tatum PT, Canetto SS, Slater MD. Suicide coverage in U.S. newspapers following the publication of the media guidelines. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2010;40:525-35. Till B, Tran U, Voracek M, Niederkrotenthaler T. Papageno vs. Werther Effect online: randomized controlled trial of beneficial and harmful impacts of educative suicide prevention websites. Br J Psychiatry. 2017. Online first: doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.177394 Robinson J, Cox G, Bailey E, Hetrick S, Rodrigues M, Fisher S et al. Social media and suicide prevention: a systematic review. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2016;10(2):103-21. Daine K, Hawton K, Singaravelu V, Stewart A, Simkin S, Montgomery P. The power of the web: a systematic review of studies of the influence of the internet on self-harm and suicide in young people. PLoS One. 2013;30;8(10):e77555. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 16 Annex 4. Myths and facts about suicide MYTH Talking about suicide is a bad idea and can be interpreted as encouragement. FACT Given the widespread stigma around suicide, most people who are contemplating suicide do not know who to speak to. Rather than encouraging suicidal behaviour, talking openly can give a person other options or the time to rethink his/her decision, thereby preventing suicide. MYTH People who talk about suicide do not mean to do it. FACT People who talk about suicide may be reaching out for help or support. A significant number of people contemplating suicide are experiencing anxiety, depression and hopelessness and may feel that there is no other option. MYTH Someone who is suicidal is determined to die. FACT On the contrary, suicidal people are often ambivalent about living or dying. Someone may act impulsively by drinking pesticide, for instance, and die a few days later, even though they would have liked to live on. Access to emotional support at the right time can prevent suicide. MYTH Most suicides happen suddenly without warning. FACT The majority of suicides have been preceded by warning signs, whether verbal or behavioural. Of course, some suicides occur without warning. But it is important to understand what the warning signs are and look out for them. MYTH Once someone is suicidal, he or she will always remain suicidal. FACT Heightened suicide risk is often short-term and specific to the situation. While suicidal thoughts may return, they are not permanent and a person with previous suicidal thoughts and attempts can go on to live a long life. MYTH Only people with mental disorders are suicidal. FACT Suicidal behaviour indicates deep unhappiness but not necessarily mental disorder. Many people living with mental disorders are not affected by suicidal behaviour, and not all people who take their own lives have a mental disorder. MYTH Suicidal behaviour is easy to explain. FACT Suicide is never the result of a single factor or event. The factors that lead an individual to suicide are usually multiple and complex, and should not be reported in a simplistic way. Health, mental health, stressful life events, social and cultural factors need to be taken into account when trying to understand suicidal behaviour. Impulsivity also plays an important role. People with a mental illness, which may influence a person’s ability to cope with life stressors and interpersonal conflicts, are more likely to be at risk of suicide. However, mental illness alone is insufficient to explain suicide. Almost always, it will be misleading to attribute a suicide to a specific event such as failure in an examination or breakdown of a relationship. In circumstances where the death has not yet been fully investigated, it is inappropriate to report premature conclusions about causes and triggers. 17 MYTH Suicide is an appropriate means of coping with problems. FACT Suicide is not a constructive or appropriate means of coping with problems, nor is it the only possible way to manage severe distress or to deal with adverse life circumstances. Stories about individuals with a personal experience of suicidal thoughts who managed to cope with their difficult life situations can help to highlight viable options for others who might currently be contemplating suicidal behaviour. Suicide also has a devastating impact on family members, friends and entire communities, often leaving them wondering whether there were signs they may have missed, and feeling guilty, angry, stigmatized and/or abandoned. Reports of suicide that explore some of these complex dynamics in a sensitive way, without blaming grieving survivors, can help educate the public about the need to provide appropriate support to persons bereaved by suicide. 18
Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals Update 2017 International Association for Suicide Prevention WHO/MSD/MER/17.5 © World Health Organization 2017 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”. Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Suggested citation. Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals, update 2017. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017 (WHO/MSD/MER/17.5). Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data. CIP data are available at http://apps.who.int/iris. Sales, rights and licensing. To purchase WHO publications, see http://apps.who.int/bookorders. To submit requests for commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, see http://www.who.int/about/licensing. Third-party materials. If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse and to obtain permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user. General disclaimers. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WHO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall WHO be liable for damages arising from its use. Printed in Switzerland Contents Foreword Responsible reporting on suicide: quick reference guide Introduction Scientific evidence of media impacts on suicidal behaviour Responsible reporting Provide accurate information about where to seek help Educate the public about the facts of suicide and suicide prevention, without spreading myths Report stories of how to cope with life stressors or suicidal thoughts, and how to get help Apply particular caution when reporting celebrity suicides Apply caution when interviewing bereaved family or friends Recognize that media professionals themselves may be affected by stories about suicide Do not place stories about suicide prominently and do not unduly repeat such stories Do not use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, or presents it as a constructive solution to problems Do not explicitly describe the method used Do not provide details about the site/location Do not use sensational headlines Do not use photographs, video footage or social media links Sources of reliable information Annex 1: Considerations for digital media Annex 2: Reporting on mass shootings and terrorism Annex 3: Overview of the scientific literature on media impacts Annex 4: Myths and facts about suicide v viii 01 03 04 04 04 04 04 05 05 06 06 06 06 07 07 08 09 10 11 17 iii
Foreword Suicide is a serious global public health problem that demands our attention but preventing suicide is no easy task. Current research indicates that the prevention of suicide, while feasible, involves a whole series of activities, ranging from provision of the best possible conditions for bringing up our children and young people, through accurate and timely assessment of mental disorders and their effective treatment, to the environmental control of risk factors. Appropriate dissemination of information and awareness-raising are essential elements in the success of suicide prevention. Cultural, age- and gender-related variations need to be taken into account in all these activities. In 1999 the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its worldwide initiative for the prevention of suicide. This booklet is the second revised version of one of the resources prepared which are addressed to specific social and professional groups that are particularly relevant to the prevention of suicide. The revised booklet is the product of continuing collaboration between WHO and the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP). It represents a link in a long and diversified chain involving a wide range of people and groups, including health professionals, educators, social agencies, governments, legislators, social communicators, law enforcers, families and communities. We are particularly indebted to Professor Diego de Leo, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, who produced the first version of this booklet. Our gratitude also goes to Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, SNEHA, Chennai, India, for her assistance in the technical editing. The original text was reviewed by the following members of the WHO International Network for Suicide Prevention, to whom we are grateful: Dr Sergio Pérez Barrero, Hospital de Bayamo, Granma, Cuba; Dr Annette Beautrais, Christchurch School of Medicine, Christchurch, New Zealand; Dr Ahmed Okasha, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; Professor Lourens Schlebusch, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa; Professor Jean-Pierre Soubrier, Centre de Ressources en Suicidologie (CRES), Paris, France; Professor Airi Värnik, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; Professor Danuta Wasserman, National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Dr Shutao Zhai, Nanjing Medical University Brain Hospital, Nanjing, China. The first revision of the booklet was undertaken by the Media Task Force of IASP under the leadership of Associate Professor Jane Pirkis, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Australia. The current update of this booklet was undertaken by the Task Force on Media Recommendations for Suicide Reporting of IASP. We should like to specifically thank Associate Professor Dr Thomas Niederkrotenthaler (Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria) and Dr Daniel Reidenberg (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), USA), co-chairs of the Task Force on Media Recommendations for Suicide Reporting of IASP, who had lead responsibility for this update. We also thank the following members of the Task Force on Media Recommendations for Suicide Reporting of IASP for their contributions: Mr Karl Andriessen, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Professor Ella Arensman, Department of v Epidemiology and Public Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Ms Jane Arigho, Headline, Dublin, Ireland; Dr Loraine Barnaby, Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica; Dr Jo Bell, School of Health and Social Work, University of Hull, Hull, England; Professor Silvia Sara Canetto, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA; Assistant Professor Qijin Cheng, Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR), China; Professor Sunny Collings, Social Psychiatry and Population Mental Health Research Unit, University of Otago, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand; Professor Diego De Leo, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Professor Elmar Etzersdorfer, Furtbachkrankenhaus, Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Stuttgart, Germany; Professor Madelyn Gould, Columbia University Medical Center, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA; Professor Gopalkrishna Gururaj, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India; Professor Keith Hawton, Centre for Suicide Research, Oxford University, Oxford, England; Ms Irina Inostroza, STOP Suicide, Geneva, Switzerland; Dr Karolina Krysinska, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Ms Caroline Lowe, Investigative Journalism, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Dr Ann Luce, School of Journalism, English and Communication, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, England; Associate Professor Lisa Marzano, Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, England; Professor Brian Mishara, Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide and Euthanasia, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, Canada; Dr Charles-Edouard Notredame, University Medical Center, Regional Hospital University Centre of Lille, Lille, France; Professor Jane Pirkis, Centre for Mental Health, University of Melbourne, elbourne, Australia; Professor Steve Platt, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland; Dr Sebastian Scherr, Department of Communication Science and Media Research, University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany; Professor Merike Sisask, Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute (ERSI), School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; Mrs Jaelea Skehan, Hunter Institute of Mental Health, Australia; Professor Gernot Sonneck, Crisis Intervention Centre Vienna, Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Professor Steven Stack, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA; Assistant Professor Benedikt Till, Suicide Research Unit, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; Dr Michael Westerlund, Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Professor Paul Yip, Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. We are also grateful to the following experts who reviewed the current version: Dr Andrea Bruni, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Vladimir Carli, NASP, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Dr Jorge Castro, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Claudina Cayetano, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Mrs Bridgette Hausman, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Dévora Kestel, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Kairi Kolves, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Mr Ed Mantler, Mental Health vi Commission of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Mrs Carmen Martinez, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Professor Michael Phillips, Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Dr Jerry Reed, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Washington, DC, USA; Professor Jean-Pierre Soubrier, CRES, Paris, France; Mrs Kim Torguson, Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Voluntary Health Services, SNEHA, Chennai, India; Professor Danuta Wasserman, NASP, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. We also thank Mr David Bramley, Switzerland for editing, Mr Denis Meissner, World Health Organization for the cover, and Mr Yusuke Nakazawa, Japan for graphic design and layout. The World Health Organization gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Government of Japan in the production of this booklet. The collaboration of IASP with WHO on its activities related with suicide prevention is greatly appreciated. This resource is being widely disseminated in the hope that it will be translated and adapted to local conditions which is a prerequisite for its effectiveness. Comments and requests for permission to translate and adapt the resource will be welcome. Alexandra Fleischmann Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse World Health Organization Ella Arensman President International Association for Suicide Prevention vii Responsible reporting on suicide: quick reference guide • Do provide accurate information about where to seek help • Do educate the public about the facts of suicide and suicide prevention, without spreading myths • Do report stories of how to cope with life stressors or suicidal thoughts, and how to get help • Do apply particular caution when reporting celebrity suicides • Do apply caution when interviewing bereaved family or friends • Do recognize that media professionals themselves may be affected by stories about suicide Dos • Don’t place stories about suicide prominently and don't unduly repeat such stories • Don’t use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, or presents it as a constructive solution to problems • Don’t explicitly describe the method used • Don’t provide details about the site/location • Don’t use sensational headlines • Don’t use photographs, video footage or social media links Don’ts viii Introduction Suicide is a major public health problem, with far-reaching social, emotional and economic consequences. There are approximately 800 000 suicides a year worldwide, and it is estimated that at least six people are directly affected by each suicide death. The factors contributing to suicide and its prevention are complex and not fully understood, but there is increasing evidence that the media can play a significant role in either enhancing or weakening suicide prevention efforts. Media reports about suicide may minimize the risk of imitative (copycat) suicide or increase the risk. The media may provide useful educational information about suicide or may spread misinformation about it. On the one hand, vulnerable individuals are at risk of engaging in imitative behaviours following media reports of suicide, particularly if the coverage is extensive, prominent, sensational, explicitly describes the method of suicide, and condones or repeats widely-held myths about suicide. The risk is particularly pronounced when the person who died by suicide had a high social status and/or can easily be identified with. Reports about suicide that trigger subsequent suicides are often repeated over a longer period. The effect of media reports on increasing suicides is referred to as the “Werther effect”, named after the title character in Goethe’s novel The sorrows of young Werther, who dies by suicide when faced with the loss of his love. On the other hand, responsible reporting about suicide may help to educate the public about suicide and its prevention, may encourage those at risk of suicide to take alternative actions and may inspire a more open and hopeful dialogue in general. Stories demonstrating help-seeking (positive coping) in adverse circumstances may strengthen protective factors or barriers to suicide and thus contribute to its prevention. Media reports about suicide should always include information about where to seek help, preferably from recognized suicide prevention services that are available on a 24/7 basis. Protective effects of responsible media reporting about suicide have been referred to in the scientific literature as the “Papageno effect”, named after the character Papageno in Mozart’s opera The magic flute, who becomes suicidal when he fears he has lost his love, but is reminded of alternatives to suicide at the last moment and subsequently chooses an alternative route of action. Media recommendations need to be tailored to traditional media as well as digital media and should aim to reach as many people as possible about suicide prevention. A specific characteristic of digital media is that information can be spread very quickly and, thus, is more difficult to monitor and control. Despite the differences between digital media and more traditional media, findings from research on the effects of traditional media on suicidal behaviour can help inform suicide prevention initiatives in digital media. Conversely, lessons learned about the potential role of digital media in the increase or prevention of suicidal behaviour can help inform suicide prevention initiatives in traditional media. This resource booklet briefly summarizes the current evidence on the impact of media reporting of suicide, and provides information for media professionals about how to report 01 on suicide, recognizing that there are times when a suicide will need to be reported on the grounds of its newsworthiness. The booklet makes suggestions about how best to ensure that such reporting is accurate, responsible and appropriate. It is applicable to both traditional and digital media reporting. This resource booklet acknowledges that the reporting of suicide and its portrayal in various media types differ within and across countries. There are cultural differences in terms of what is appropriate to report and how information about a given suicide is accessed. While this booklet is designed to provide guiding principles about media reporting that apply across cultures, media professionals are encouraged to work with their local suicide prevention community and to draw on local media reporting guidelines, if available. Suicide prevention experts in the area of media reporting are active around the globe, as evidenced by the number of international experts who have contributed to this booklet. They are ready, available and willing to work with media professionals to ensure that reporting of suicide is responsible and encourages accurate messaging and avoids posing a risk to vulnerable persons. In some countries, guidelines for the reporting of suicide have been incorporated into codes of conduct for the press. The booklet is designed for media professionals working in print, broadcast and online media. Most of the recommendations are relevant to reporting across all media, but some relate specifically to print media or digital media. A brief summary of considerations for digital media can be found in Annex 1. It is beyond the scope of this resource to address issues which are specific to websites, films, television soap operas or stage plays. For related information, see resources of the Entertainment Industry Council (http://www.eiconline.org/). Reporting on mass shootings and terrorism is addressed in Annex 2. 02 Scientific evidence of media impacts on suicidal behaviour Reporting as a risk factor of suicidal behaviour Over 100 investigations have been conducted into imitative (copycat) suicides (i.e. suicides that appear to be directly related to media reports about one or more suicides). Systematic reviews of these studies have consistently drawn the same conclusion: media reporting of suicide cases can lead to subsequent, additional, suicidal behaviours. These reviews also conclude that copycat suicidal behaviour is more likely under some circumstances than others. In particular, repeated coverage and high-impact/high-profile stories are most strongly associated with copycat behaviour. The effect of a report about a suicide on subsequent suicides is greater when the person described in the story is a celebrity and is held in high regard by the reader or viewer. Particular subgroups in the population (such as young people, people suffering from mental illness, persons with a history of suicidal behaviour or those bereaved by suicide) are particularly vulnerable to engaging in imitative suicidal behaviour. The risk is most pronounced when the characteristics of the person who died by suicide and those of the reader or viewer are similar in some way and when the reader or viewer identifies with the featured person. Additionally, the content of stories also plays an important role: stories that confirm or repeat myths about suicide or that include a detailed description of a particular method of suicide are more likely to result in copycat suicides. However, media reports about suicides written in accordance with media guidelines show strong potential to help prevent suicide and do not usually trigger further suicides. Positive impacts of reporting Whereas there is a relatively long history of research on the harmful effects of media reports about suicide, in the last few years more and more research has focused on the potential benefits of responsible media reporting about suicide. Media reports on persons who were in adverse life circumstances but who managed to cope constructively with their suicidal thoughts have been associated with decreases in suicidal behaviour. Further studies suggest that educative media portrayals featuring how to cope with suicidal thoughts may help reduce suicidal behaviour. A more detailed overview of the scientific literature on media impacts is provided in Annex 3. 03 Responsible reporting Provide accurate information about where to seek help Information about support resources should be provided at the end of all stories about suicide. The specific resources should include suicide prevention centres, crisis helplines, other health and welfare professionals, and self-help groups. Information about where to seek help should include services that are recognized in the community as being of high quality and accessible 24/7, if available. These resources should provide access to support for persons who are distressed or prompted to consider suicide as a result of the story. The address or contact information of listed resources should be checked regularly to ensure that it is accurate. However, providing a long list of potential resources can be counter-productive; therefore, only a limited number of resources (e.g. one phone number and one website) should be provided. Educate the public about the facts of suicide and suicide prevention, without spreading myths There are many misconceptions about suicide. Research has shown that media reports that repeat these myths are more likely to trigger imitative behaviour. Studies have also shown that the public tends to recall the myths in “myths versus facts” stories in the media. Some of the most common myths and facts about suicide are listed in Annex 4. Consequently, it is preferable to lead with facts about suicide. Apart from carefully researching facts when discussing suicide, it is always helpful to report on how to prevent suicide, to include the message that people who are suicidal should seek help, and to indicate how to access that help. Report stories of how to cope with life stressors or suicidal thoughts, and how to get help Providing personal narratives of people who managed to cope with adverse circumstances and suicidality may help others in difficult life situations to adopt similar positive coping strategies. Stories that integrate educative materials explaining how to get help when faced with seemingly insurmountable difficulties are also encouraged. These stories typically feature specific ways adopted by others to overcome their suicidal thoughts, and highlight what can be done to get help if one is suicidal. Apply particular caution when reporting celebrity suicides Celebrity suicides are considered newsworthy and it is often considered to be in the public interest to report them. However, such reports are particularly likely to induce copycat suicides in vulnerable persons. Glorifying a celebrity’s death may inadvertently suggest that society honours suicidal behaviour and thus may promote suicidal behaviour in others. For this reason, special care should be taken when reporting celebrity suicides. Such reports should not glamourize the suicide or describe the suicide method in detail. A focus on the celebrity’s life, how he or she contributed to society, and how their death negatively affects others is preferable to reporting details of the suicidal act or providing simplistic reasons for why the suicide occurred. Additionally, care should be taken when reporting a celebrity’s death when the cause of death is not immediately known. Media speculation about suicide as a possible cause of a celebrity’s death can be harmful. It is more appropriate to wait for the cause of death to become known and to research the 04 specific circumstances carefully. As noted above, reports should always include information about access to support resources for those who are, or might become, distressed or suicidal due to the death. Apply caution when interviewing bereaved family or friends The views of persons who have experienced a loss from suicide can be a very valuable resource for educating others about the realities of suicide. However, several key considerations should be taken into account when collecting such information and including it in a media report about suicide. There needs to be caution when involving family, friends and others who are grieving over an acute loss and who might be in a crisis situation. A decision to interview someone who has been bereaved by suicide should never be taken lightly. Such persons are at increased risk of suicide or self-harm while they are dealing with their grief. Respect for their privacy should take precedence over writing a dramatic story. In some countries, journalists are guided by a code of conduct when undertaking such interviews. It is important for media professionals to recognize that, as part of their investigations, they may gain knowledge about a suicide or the deceased that witnesses and/or the bereaved do not have. The publication of such material could be harmful to those who are bereaved by the suicide. Reporters also need to carefully consider the accuracy of any information received from the bereaved during an interview because their recall of specific memories, statements or behaviours of the suicide may be clouded by acute grief. In instances where reporting is not related to a recent loss, people who have managed to cope with loss due to suicide and want to contribute to a media story can be an important resource for increasing awareness and providing viable options for others on how to cope with similar circumstances. However, even if the actual loss occurred a long time ago, it is important to remember that talking about past experiences with suicide may trigger painful memories and emotions. Persons bereaved by suicide who volunteer to speak with the media may be unaware of the potential personal consequences of widespread public dissemination of detailed private information; therefore, this should be discussed with the individual beforehand, and steps should be taken to protect their privacy. Whenever possible, the bereaved should be shown reports containing their personal accounts prior to publication in order to allow corrections or other changes before publication. Recognize that media professionals themselves may be affected by stories about suicide Preparing a story about a suicide may resonate with media professionals' own experiences. The effect can occur in all settings, but may be particularly pronounced in small, close-knit communities where media professionals have strong local connections. There is an obligation on media organizations to ensure that necessary supports – such as debriefing opportunities and mentoring arrangements – are in place for media professionals. Individual media professionals should not hesitate to seek help if they are negatively affected in any way. 05 Do not place stories about suicide prominently and do not unduly repeat such stories Prominent placement and undue repetition of stories about suicide are more likely to lead to subsequent incidents of suicidal behaviour than more subtle presentations. Newspaper stories about suicide should ideally be located on the inside pages, towards the bottom of the page, rather than on the front page or at the top of an inside page. Similarly, broadcast stories about suicide should be presented in the second or third break of television news, and further down the order of radio reports or online posts, rather than as the lead item. Caution should be exercised regarding the repetition or updating of the original story. Do not use language which sensationalizes or normalizes suicide, or presents it as a constructive solution to problems Language that sensationalizes suicide should be avoided. For example, it is much better to report on “increasing suicide rates” than on a “suicide epidemic”. When reporting on a suicide, the use of language that conveys the message that suicide is a public health problem and identifies risk factors, combined with a message about the prevention of suicide, can help to educate the public about the importance of suicide prevention. Language that misinforms the public about suicide, normalizes it or provides simplistic explanations for a suicide should also be avoided. Apparent changes in suicide statistics should be verified, as they may signal temporary fluctuations rather than statistically reliable increases or decreases. Out-of-context use of the word “suicide” – such as, for instance, “political suicide” – may serve to desensitize the public to its gravity. Terms like “unsuccessful suicide” or “successful suicide”, implying that death is a desirable outcome, should not be used; alternative phrases such as “non-fatal suicidal behaviour” are more accurate and less open to misinterpretation. The phrase “committed suicide” implies criminality (suicide remains a criminal offence in some countries) and unnecessarily increases the stigma experienced by those who have lost a person to suicide. It is better to say “died by suicide” or “took his/her life”. Do not explicitly describe the method used Detailed description and/or discussion of the method should be avoided because this will increase the likelihood that a vulnerable person will copy the act. In reporting an overdose, for example it could be harmful to detail the brand/name, nature, quantity or combination of drugs taken, or how they were obtained. Caution should also be exercised when the method of suicide is rare or novel. While use of an unusual method may appear to make the death more newsworthy, reporting the method may trigger other people to use this method. New methods can spread easily via sensationalist media reporting – an effect that can be accelerated via social media. Do not provide details about the site/location Sometimes a location can develop a reputation as a “suicide site” – e.g. a bridge, a tall building, a cliff or a railway station or crossing where suicidal acts have occurred. 06 Particular care should be taken by media professionals not to promote such locations as suicide sites by, for instance, using sensationalist language to describe them or overplaying the number of incidents occurring at that location. Similar caution is necessary when reporting about suicides or suicide attempts in educational settings or specific institutions, particularly those for vulnerable individuals (e.g. prisons and psychiatric units/hospitals). Do not use sensational headlines Headlines serve the purpose of attracting the reader’s attention by giving the essence of the story in as few words as possible. The word “suicide” should not be used in the headline, and explicit reference to the method or site of the suicide should be avoided. If headlines are written by other media professionals than those working on the main text, the author of the main text should work with the headline writer to ensure that an appropriate headline is selected. Do not use photographs, video footage or digital media links Photographs, video footage or social media links of the scene of a suicide should not be used, particularly if reference is made to specific details of the location or method. In addition, great caution is required in the use of pictures of a person who has died by suicide. If images are used, explicit permission should be obtained from family members. These images should not be prominently placed and should not glamorize the individual or the suicidal act. Research shows that pictures associated with suicidal acts can be reactivated by vulnerable readers later, such as during a personal crisis, and may then trigger suicidal behaviour. Coordination of editorial work on text and pictures is recommended, as individuals responsible for the text are sometimes not responsible for the use of images. Suicide notes, final text messages, social media posts and emails from the deceased individual should not be published. 07 Sources of reliable information Sources of reliable statistics and other information about suicide should be used by media professionals when reporting about suicide. Government statistics agencies in many countries provide data on their annual suicide rates, usually by age and sex. WHO Member States report mortality data, including suicide, to WHO (http://www.who.int/healthinfo/mortality_data/en/). Data and statistics should be interpreted carefully and correctly. 1 Media professionals should seek advice from local suicide prevention experts when preparing stories about suicide. These experts can help interpret data about suicide, ensure that reports about suicide avoid increasing the risk of copycat suicide, dispel myths about suicidal behaviour, and provide useful information about recognizing and helping persons who are thinking about taking their own lives. National or regional suicide prevention organizations often have specific contact details for the media. Many countries have associations that provide information about suicide. Some of these associations also have a role in suicide prevention, offer support to people who are experiencing suicidal thoughts or have been bereaved by suicide, provide advocacy services, and/or foster research about suicide. The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) is the international equivalent of these associations. The IASP website (https://www.iasp.info) includes useful background information for media professionals preparing stories on suicide, including lists of suicide prevention services and media guidelines for reporting on suicide from several countries. Leading experts, suicide prevention services and public health organizations have also developed best practice recommendations for reporting on suicide in multiple languages (http://www.reportingonsuicide.org). 1 Some caution should be exercised in making international comparisons of rates, because countries have different legal regulations and procedures which may influence the way in which deaths are identified, certified and recorded as suicides. 08 Annex 1. Considerations for digital media Nowadays people obtain their information from a much broader range of sources than they did in the past, and there is increasing overlap between traditional media and online media. The Internet has become an important platform for information and communication about suicide, especially among young people and persons at high risk of suicide. This booklet can be used for media reporting in both traditional and digital media. However, there are additional challenges with regard to reporting on suicide in digital media and managing potential suicidal content online. Specific guidelines have been created in recent years to address these challenges. It is important to avoid the hyperlinking of suicidal material in social media. Video or audio footage (e.g. emergency calls) or social media links to the scene of a suicide should not be used, particularly if the location or method is clearly presented. In addition, great caution is necessary when using pictures of a person who has died by suicide. Search engine optimization efforts need to be carefully balanced against the use of harmful wording, particularly when it comes to writing the headline. As is true for traditional media, data visualizations should be carefully checked to prevent the exaggeration or sensationalization of statistics about suicide. Adequate policies should be established by the managers of media platforms for dealing with potentially suicidal content in the comments sections of digital media, such as online newspapers or print newspapers’ websites, and for timely responses to content relating to suicide. A set of best practices for online technologies (http://www.preventtheattempt.com) has been developed to serve small, medium-sized and large organizations and companies with online representations. Basic, mid-level and advanced-level recommendations are offered about how to integrate online resources with interactive components for suicide prevention. Basic recommendations include: the provision of a help centre with information on supportive resources and Frequently asked questions (FAQ) on suicide, policies on how to respond to potentially suicidal users, regulations on the involvement of law enforcement, timeliness of responses to suicidal content, and information on where to refer potentially suicidal individuals. Another set of recommendations has been developed for bloggers (https://www.bloggingonsuicide.org) by Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE). These recommendations are based on the content of guidelines for traditional media, highlighting safety concerns that are frequently encountered in blogs and how to deal with them. 09 Annex 2. Reporting on mass shootings and terrorism Research on the imitative effects of media reports about mass shootings and terrorism is not as extensive as research on the copycat effects of media reports about suicides. However, there is some evidence that sensationalist reporting about killings can trigger further homicidal actions. These incidents typically receive considerable media attention, and may or may not include self-directed violence after, or as part of, the murder(s). If such an event includes suicide, it should not be described as a suicide attack or suicide bombing because this magnifies the negative labelling of suicidal behaviour. Referring to such events as “homicidal bombings” or “mass killings” would be more appropriate because the main purpose of these acts is to kill others; only some of the perpetrators may actually be suicidal. In reporting these killings, it is important to remember that the perpetrator may not be suicidal and may not have a mental illness; most mass shootings are not committed by persons with a diagnosed mental disorder. An international expert team lead by Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) has developed recommendations (https://www.reportingonmassshootings.org) for reporting such events – including reducing the media attention on the perpetrators, because such emphasis can potentially lead others to identify with them and be inspired by them to commit similar acts. 10 Annex 3. Overview of the scientific literature on media impacts Harmful media impacts The earliest evidence of the impact of the media on suicidal behaviour was provided in the late 18th century when Goethe published The sorrows of young Werther, in which Werther shoots himself because he falls in love with a woman who is beyond his reach. The novel was implicated in a spate of suicides across Europe. Many of those who died by suicide were dressed in a similar fashion to Werther and adopted his method or were found with a copy of Goethe’s book. Consequently the book was banned in several European countries. The evidence for imitative suicidal behaviours occurring in response to the reporting or portrayal of suicide remained anecdotal until the 1970s when Phillips (1) published a study which retrospectively compared the number of suicides that occurred in the months in which a front-page article on suicide appeared in the United States press with the number that occurred in the months in which no such article appeared. During the 20-year study period, there were 33 months during which a front-page suicide article was published, and there was a significant increase in the number of suicides in 26 of those 33 months. Imitation effects were also found by Schmidtke & Häfner (2) after the broadcast of a television series. Since Phillips’ study, over 100 other investigations into imitative suicides have been conducted. Collectively, these studies have strengthened the body of evidence in a number of ways. First, they have used improved methodologies. For example, Wasserman (3) and Stack (4) replicated the findings from Phillips’ original study and extended the observation period, using more complex time-series regression techniques, and considered rates rather than absolute numbers of suicide. Second, these studies have examined different media. For instance, Bollen & Phillips (5) and Stack (6) examined the impact of suicide stories that were given national coverage on television news in the USA and found significant increases in suicide rates following such broadcasts. Furthermore, although most of the early studies were conducted in the USA and considered suicide only, later studies broadened the scope to Asian and European countries and included a focus on suicide attempts. For example, studies by Cheng et al. (7, 8), Yip et al. (9) and Chen et al. (10) demonstrated increases in suicides and suicide attempts following the news coverage of celebrity suicides in China (Province of Taiwan and Hong Kong SAR), and the Republic of Korea, respectively. A study by Etzersdorfer, Voracek & Sonneck (11) reported similar results following coverage of a celebrity suicide in the largest Austrian newspaper, with increases in suicides being more pronounced in regions where distribution of the newspaper was greatest. More recent studies also assessed the characteristics of the content of media reports before assessing media effects. This is reflected in studies by Pirkis and colleagues that differentiated various types of media reports on the basis of differences in content (12). They found that repetitive stories reporting suicide methods and reinforcing public misconceptions about suicide were associated with subsequent increases in suicides. Notably, Gould and colleagues found that youth copycat suicides were more likely to be triggered by newspaper stories that were more prominent (i.e. front-page placement or inclusion of a picture), more explicit (i.e. with headlines containing the word “suicide” or specifying the method used), more detailed (i.e. including the deceased’s name, the details of the method, or the presence of a suicide note), and reporting on suicide death rather than suicide attempt (13). 11 Systematic reviews of studies in the area of media and suicide have consistently reached the same conclusion: media reporting of suicide can lead to subsequent increases in suicidal behaviours (14-17). These reviews have also observed that the likelihood of an increase in suicidal behaviours varies as a function of the time after the news report, usually peaking within the first three days and levelling off by about two weeks (5, 18), but sometimes lasting longer (19). The increase is related to the amount and prominence of coverage, with repeated coverage and high-impact stories being most strongly associated with imitative behaviours (10, 11, 20-22). Such behaviours are accentuated when the person described in the story and the reader or viewer are similar in some way (22, 23), or when the person described in the story is a celebrity and is held in high regard by the reader or viewer (3, 4, 7, 9, 22, 24). Sensationalist or glamourized reporting on suicides of entertainment industry celebrities appears to be associated with the greatest increases in subsequent suicides (25). Combined evidence across studies has shown that the average increase in suicide rates in the month subsequent to sensationalist news media reporting on a celebrity suicide is 0.26 per 100 000 population, but the estimated effect is even more pronounced for reports on the suicides of entertainers (0.64 per 100 000 population) (25). Media effects also depend on the characteristics of the audience. Some subgroups in the population (young people, people suffering from depression, and persons who identify with the deceased) seem especially vulnerable and are therefore more likely to show increased rates of suicidal thoughts or imitative suicidal behaviours (18, 26-29). Overt description of suicide by a particular method often leads to increases in suicidal behaviour employing that method (10, 30-33). Protective media impacts There is also some evidence regarding the potential for the media to exert a positive influence. This evidence comes from studies which considered whether best-practice media reporting of suicide could lead to a reduction in the rates of suicide and suicide attempts. Etzersdorfer and colleagues showed that the introduction of media guidelines on the reporting of suicides on the Vienna subway resulted in a reduction in sensational reporting of these suicides and, in turn, a 75% decrease in the rate of subway suicides and a 20% decrease in the overall suicide rate in Vienna (34-36). The repeated distribution of these guidelines resulted in an improvement in the quality of reporting about suicide and a reduction in the Austria’s national suicide rate, with the positive impact most pronounced in regions with strong media collaboration (37). Studies from Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, Germany and Switzerland have similarly shown that media guidelines were positively related to the quality of reporting on suicide. However, the effectiveness of media guidelines depends on their successful implementation (38, 39). Experience from several countries – including Australia (http://www.mindframe-media.info), Austria (http://www.suizidforschung.at), China, Hong Kong SAR (http://www.csrp.hku.hk/media/), Switzerland (http://www.stopsuicide.ch), the United Kingdom (http://www.samaritans.org/media-centre/) and the USA (http://www.reportingonsuicide.org) – provide important insights on the implementation of media guidelines, which could be instructive for other countries. Further evidence of a possible suicide-protective effect of certain media reports comes from a study by Niederkrotenthaler and colleagues, who found that a specific class of articles that focused on positive coping/mastery of crises was associated with decreases in suicide rates in 12 the geographical area where the published media reports reached a large proportion of the population (21). This protective media potential has been labelled the Papageno effect after the character in Mozart’s opera The magic flute who considers suicide but changes his plan when reminded of alternatives to dying. Following this first study on the Papageno effect, some other studies have identified protective impacts by media materials that address constructive coping and provide information on suicide prevention (28, 38, 40). Overall, reviews of media and suicide find that, while there is evidence for both beneficial and harmful impacts of the media on suicide prevention, most research to date has focused on the harmful impacts (17). Digital media The very little research that is yet available about the impact of suicide-related depictions online suggests that both protective and harmful effects are possible. Digital media are considered a potentially valuable resource for persons in need of help when suicidal because online media sites are easily accessible and are often used by young people. Persons at risk for suicide frequently report feeling less alienated when using social media and sometimes report that their online activities have reduced suicidal thoughts. This is particularly the case for activities on websites and message boards that offer constructive help and actively avoid normalizing or condoning suicidal behaviour. However, the potential to normalize suicidal behaviours, the access to images about suicide and suicide methods, and the creation of communication channels that can be used for bullying and harassment are of major concern (41, 42). There are also pro-suicide sites that describe the specifics of different suicide methods, encourage suicidal behaviour, or recruit individuals for suicide pacts. An increasing number of case studies indicate that message boards can serve as a tool for learning about suicide methods, and can promote suicidal behaviour in vulnerable persons. Conclusion There is strong support for the contention that sensationalist media reports about suicide can lead to subsequent additional suicidal behaviours (suicides and suicide attempts). These time-limited increases in suicides are not simply the early occurrence of suicides that would have happened anyway (if this were the case, they would be followed by a commensurate decrease in suicide rates); they are additional suicides that would not have occurred in the absence of the inappropriate media reporting. Studies of the potential protective effects of responsible media reporting of suicide have started only quite recently and the evidence for the benefits of this type of reporting is currently emerging. Media professionals should exercise caution in reporting on suicide, balancing the public’s “right to know” against the risk of causing harm. 13 Phillips DP. The influence of suggestion on suicide: substantive and theoretical implications of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1974;39(3):340-54. Schmidtke A, Häfner H. The Werther effect after television films: new evidence for an old hypothesis. Psychol Med. 1988;18(3):665-76. Wasserman IM. Imitation and suicide: a re-examination of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1984;49(3):427-36. Stack S. A reanalysis of the impact of non-celebrity suicides: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1990;25(5):269-73. Bollen KA, Phillips DP. Imitative suicides: a national study of the effects of television news stories. Am Sociol Rev. 1982;47(6):802-9. Stack S. The effect of publicized mass murders and murder-suicides on lethal violence, 1968-1980: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1989;24(4):202-8. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Lee CTC, Chen THH. The influence of media reporting of the suicide of a celebrity on suicide rates: a population-based study. Int J Epidemiol. 2007;36(6):1229-34. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chen CY, Chen LC, et al. The influence of media coverage of a celebrity suicide on subsequent suicide attempts. J Clin Psychiatry. 2007;68(6):862-6. Yip PSF, Fu KW, Yang KCT, Ip BYT, Chan CLW, Chen EYH et al. The effects of a celebrity suicide on suicide rates in Hong Kong. J Affect Disord. 2006;93(1-3):245-52. Chen YY, Yip PS, Chan CH, Fu KW, Chang SS, Lee WJ et al. The impact of a celebrity's suicide on the introduction and establishment of a new method of suicide in South Korea. Arch Suicide Res. 2014;18(2):221-6. Etzersdorfer E, Voracek M, Sonneck G. A dose-response relationship of imitational suicides with newspaper distribution. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001;35(2):251. Pirkis JE, Burgess PM, Francis C, Blood RW, Jolley DJ. The relationship between media reporting of suicide and actual suicide in Australia. Soc Sci Med. 2006;62:2874–86. Gould M., Kleinman MH, Lake AM, Forman J, Basset Midle J. Newspaper coverage of suicide and initiation of suicide clusters in teenagers in the USA, 1988-96: a retrospective, population-based, case-control study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2014;1(1): 34-43. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70225-1. Pirkis J, Blood RW. Suicide and the media: (1) Reportage in non-fictional media. Crisis. 2001;22(4):146-54. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 14 Stack S. Media impacts on suicide: a quantitative review of 293 findings. Soc Sci Q. 2000;81(4):957-72. Stack S. Suicide in the media: a quantitative review of studies based on non-fictional stories. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2005;35(2):121-33. Sisask M, Värnik A. Media roles in suicide prevention: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2012;9(1):123-38. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide. N Engl J Med. 1986;315(11):685-9. Fu KW, Yip PSF. Long-term impact of celebrity suicide on suicidal ideation: Results from a population-based study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007;61(6):540-6. Hassan R. Effects of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia: a research note. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1995;29(3):480-3. Niederkrotenthaler T, Voracek M, Herberth A, Till B, Strauss M, Etzersdorfer E et al. Role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide – Werther v. Papageno effects. Br J Psychiatry. 2010;197:234–43. Niederkrotenthaler T, Till B, Voracek M, Dervic K, Kapusta ND, Sonneck G. Copycat-effects after media reports on suicide: a population-based ecologic study. Soc Sci Med. 2009;69:1085–90. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckp034. Stack S. Audience receptiveness, the media, and aged suicide, 1968-1980. J Aging Stud. 1990;4(2):195-209. Stack S. Celebrities and suicide: a taxonomy and analysis. Am Sociol Rev. 1987;52 (3):401-12. Niederkrotenthaler T, Fu KW, Yip P, Fong DYT, Stack S, Cheng Q, et al. Changes in suicide rates following media reports on celebrity suicides: a meta-analysis. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012;66:1037–42. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chang JC, Chong MY et al. The influence of media reporting of a celebrity suicide on suicidal behaviour in patients with a history of depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2007;103:69-75. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. The effect of suicide stories on various demographic groups, 1968-1985. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1988;18(1):100-14. Till B, Strauss M, Sonneck G, Niederkrotenthaler T. Determining the effects of films with suicidal content: a laboratory experiment. Br J Psychiatry. 2015;207(1):72-8. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.152827. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 15 Scherr S, Reinemann C. Belief in a Werther effect: third-person effects in the perceptions of suicide risk for others and the moderating role of depression. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2011;41(6):624–34. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning: a current epidemic. BMJ. 1979;2(6193):769-70. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning as an epidemic phenomenon: an analysis of 82 deaths and inquests in England and Wales in 1978-79. Psychol Med. 1981;11(4):735-9. Veysey MJ, Kamanyire R, Volans GN. Antifreeze poisonings give more insight into copycat behaviour. BMJ. 1999;319(7217):1131. Hawton K, Simkin S, Deeks J, O'Connor S, Keen A, Altman DG et al. Effects of a drug overdose in a television drama on presentations to hospital for self-poisoning: time series and questionnaire study. BMJ. 1996;318(7189):972-7. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G. Preventing suicide by influencing mass- media reporting: the Viennese experience 1980-1996. Arch Suicide Res. 1998;4(1):64-74. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G, Nagel Kuess S. Newspaper reports and suicide. N Engl J Med. 1992;327(7):502-3. Sonneck G, Etzersdorfer E, Nagel Kuess S. Imitative suicide on the Viennese subway. Soc Sci Med. 1994;38(3):453-7. Niederkrotenthaler T, Sonneck G. Assessing the impact of media guidelines for reporting on suicides in Austria: interrupted time series analysis. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2007;41(5):419-28. Stack S, Niederkrotenthaler T, editors. Media and suicide: international perspectives on research, theory & policy. Piscataway (NJ): Transaction Publishers; 2017. Tatum PT, Canetto SS, Slater MD. Suicide coverage in U.S. newspapers following the publication of the media guidelines. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2010;40:525-35. Till B, Tran U, Voracek M, Niederkrotenthaler T. Papageno vs. Werther Effect online: randomized controlled trial of beneficial and harmful impacts of educative suicide prevention websites. Br J Psychiatry. 2017. Online first: doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.177394 Robinson J, Cox G, Bailey E, Hetrick S, Rodrigues M, Fisher S et al. Social media and suicide prevention: a systematic review. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2016;10(2):103-21. Daine K, Hawton K, Singaravelu V, Stewart A, Simkin S, Montgomery P. The power of the web: a systematic review of studies of the influence of the internet on self-harm and suicide in young people. PLoS One. 2013;30;8(10):e77555. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 16 Annex 4. Myths and facts about suicide MYTH Talking about suicide is a bad idea and can be interpreted as encouragement. FACT Given the widespread stigma around suicide, most people who are contemplating suicide do not know who to speak to. Rather than encouraging suicidal behaviour, talking openly can give a person other options or the time to rethink his/her decision, thereby preventing suicide. MYTH People who talk about suicide do not mean to do it. FACT People who talk about suicide may be reaching out for help or support. A significant number of people contemplating suicide are experiencing anxiety, depression and hopelessness and may feel that there is no other option. MYTH Someone who is suicidal is determined to die. FACT On the contrary, suicidal people are often ambivalent about living or dying. Someone may act impulsively by drinking pesticide, for instance, and die a few days later, even though they would have liked to live on. Access to emotional support at the right time can prevent suicide. MYTH Most suicides happen suddenly without warning. FACT The majority of suicides have been preceded by warning signs, whether verbal or behavioural. Of course, some suicides occur without warning. But it is important to understand what the warning signs are and look out for them. MYTH Once someone is suicidal, he or she will always remain suicidal. FACT Heightened suicide risk is often short-term and specific to the situation. While suicidal thoughts may return, they are not permanent and a person with previous suicidal thoughts and attempts can go on to live a long life. MYTH Only people with mental disorders are suicidal. FACT Suicidal behaviour indicates deep unhappiness but not necessarily mental disorder. Many people living with mental disorders are not affected by suicidal behaviour, and not all people who take their own lives have a mental disorder. MYTH Suicidal behaviour is easy to explain. FACT Suicide is never the result of a single factor or event. The factors that lead an individual to suicide are usually multiple and complex, and should not be reported in a simplistic way. Health, mental health, stressful life events, social and cultural factors need to be taken into account when trying to understand suicidal behaviour. Impulsivity also plays an important role. People with a mental illness, which may influence a person’s ability to cope with life stressors and interpersonal conflicts, are more likely to be at risk of suicide. However, mental illness alone is insufficient to explain suicide. Almost always, it will be misleading to attribute a suicide to a specific event such as failure in an examination or breakdown of a relationship. In circumstances where the death has not yet been fully investigated, it is inappropriate to report premature conclusions about causes and triggers. 17 MYTH Suicide is an appropriate means of coping with problems. FACT Suicide is not a constructive or appropriate means of coping with problems, nor is it the only possible way to manage severe distress or to deal with adverse life circumstances. Stories about individuals with a personal experience of suicidal thoughts who managed to cope with their difficult life situations can help to highlight viable options for others who might currently be contemplating suicidal behaviour. Suicide also has a devastating impact on family members, friends and entire communities, often leaving them wondering whether there were signs they may have missed, and feeling guilty, angry, stigmatized and/or abandoned. Reports of suicide that explore some of these complex dynamics in a sensitive way, without blaming grieving survivors, can help educate the public about the need to provide appropriate support to persons bereaved by suicide. 18
预防自杀: 供媒体工作者参考 2017 版 北京回龙观医院北京心理危机研究与干预中心 I 预防自杀: 供媒体工作者参考 2017 版 英文版原著:世界卫生组织 国际预防自杀协会 中文版翻译:北京回龙观医院北京心理危机研究与干预中心 II 推荐的引用方式:Preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals, update 2017. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017 (WHO/MSD/MER/17.5). Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. © Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center 中文版翻译:安静、夏旸,校对:童永胜 北京回龙观医院北京心理危机研究与干预中心 世界卫生组 织心理危机预防研究与培训合作中心 本翻译并非由世界卫生组织完成。世界卫生组织不对翻译的内容以及翻译的准确性负责。 原版英文版 应为装订正版。 本作品采用知识共享署名-非商业性使用-相同方式共享 3.0 中国大陆许可协议进行许可。 I 目录 前 言 ........................................................................................................................................................................... II 负责任地报道自杀:快速参考指南 ......................................................................................................................... 1 引 言 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 2 媒体报道影响自杀行为的科学证据 ......................................................................................................................... 4 负责任的报道 ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 提供可以到哪里寻求帮助的准确信息 ............................................................................................................. 5 教育公众有关自杀和自杀预防的事实,不传播流言 ...................................................................................... 5 报道如何应付生活中的压力或者自杀想法,和如何获得帮助 ...................................................................... 5 当报道名人自杀的时候要特别小心 ................................................................................................................. 5 当采访居丧亲友时要小心 ................................................................................................................................. 6 认识到媒体从业人员自己可能会受到自杀报道的影响 .................................................................................. 6 不要将有关自杀的报道放在显著位置,也不要一直重复这类报道 .............................................................. 7 不要使用将自杀敏感化或者将自杀正常化的语言,或者将自杀视为解决问题的建设性方法 .................. 7 不要清楚地描述自杀所使用的方法 ................................................................................................................. 7 不要提供有关自杀地方/位置的详细信息 ........................................................................................................ 8 不要使用耸人听闻的标题 ................................................................................................................................. 8 不要使用照片,未经剪辑的视频录像或者电子媒体链接 .............................................................................. 8 可靠信息来源 ............................................................................................................................................................. 9 附件 1 对数字媒体的思考 ............................................................................................................................ 10 附件 2 对大规模枪击和恐怖主义的报道 .................................................................................................... 11 附件 3 媒体对自杀影响的科研文献综述 .................................................................................................... 12 附件 4 自杀的流言与事实 ............................................................................................................................ 18 II 前 言 自杀是一个严重的全球性公共卫生问题,需要引起社会各界的关注;但预防自杀绝非易事。目前的研 究表明,预防自杀虽然可行,但通常需要采取一系列完整的措施,包括尽最大可能为儿童和年轻人提供最 好的成长条件,及时准确地评估及有效地治疗精神障碍,以及对生活环境中危险因素的控制等。恰当的信 息传播和提高公众认识是有效开展自杀预防工作的必要因素。在推行上述自杀预防措施的过程中要考虑到 文化、年龄和性别等相关的因素。 1999 年,世界卫生组织(WHO)在全世界范围内发起了预防自杀的倡议。这本第二次修订版的手册是一 系列自杀干预专业资料之一,旨在为从事自杀预防工作有关的社会和专业团体提供理论指导。修订的第二 版手册仍是世界卫生组织与国际预防自杀协会(IASP)联合出版,可供个体和团体使用,包括卫生专业人 员、教育工作者、社会机构、政府、立法者、媒体工作者、执法者、家庭和社区。 我们特别感谢制作本手册第一版的澳大利亚昆士兰州布里斯班的格里菲斯大学 Diego De Leo 教授。我 们同样很感谢印度金奈 SNEHA 的 Lakshmi Vijayakumar 博士在技术性写作方面的帮助。我们十分感谢下列 世界卫生组织国际预防自杀网络参与原文审阅的成员:古巴格拉玛巴亚莫医院的 Sergio Pérez Barrero 博 士;新西兰基督城的基督城医学院的 Annette Beautrais 博士;埃及开罗的艾因夏姆斯大学的 Ahmed Okasha 博士;南非德班的纳塔尔大学德班校区的 Lourens Schlebusch 博士;法国巴黎自杀者中心(CRES)的 Jean-Pierre Soubrier 教授;爱沙尼亚塔林的塔林大学的 Airi Varnik 教授;瑞典斯德哥尔摩的国家自杀 研究和精神疾病预防中心(NASP)的卡罗林斯卡学院的 Danuta Wasserman 教授;中国南京的南京医科大学 附属脑科医院的翟书涛博士。本手册的第一版修订是由澳大利亚墨尔本大学公众健康学系的 JanePirkis 副 教授带领的国际预防自杀协会媒体工作队完成的。 本手册的最新更新是由国际预防自杀协会自杀报道的媒体建议工作队完成的。我们要特别感谢负责这 次更新的国际预防自杀协会自杀报道的媒体建议工作队的联合主席/副教授 Thomas Niederkrotenthaler 博 士(奥地利维也纳医科大学公共卫生中心)和 Daniel Reidenberg 博士(美国自杀暴力教育(SAVE))。 我们同样感谢下列国际预防自杀协会自杀报道的媒体建议工作队的成员做出的贡献:澳大利亚悉尼新 南威尔士大学精神医学系的 Karl Andriessen 先生;爱尔兰科克的科克大学流行病学和公共卫生系的 Ella Arensman 教授;爱尔兰都柏林 Headline 的 Jane Arigho 女士;牙买加莫纳的西印度大学莫纳分校社区卫生 与精神科系的 Loraine Barnaby 博士;英国赫尔的赫尔大学健康与社会工作学院的 Jo Bell 博士;美国科 罗拉多州柯林斯堡的科罗拉多州立大学的 Silvia Sara Canetto 教授;中国香港特别行政区的香港大学香 港赛马会预防自杀研究中心的程绮瑾助理教授;新西兰基督城的奥塔哥大学惠灵顿医学及卫生科学学院社 会精神病学与人口心理健康研究系的 Sunny Collings 教授;澳大利亚昆士兰州布里斯班的格里菲斯大学澳 III 大利亚自杀研究与预防研究所的 Diego De Leo 教授; 德国斯图加特精神病学和心理治疗诊所的 Furtbachkrankenhaus 的 Elmar Etzersdorfer 教授;美国纽约的纽约州精神病学研究所哥伦比亚大学医学 中心的 Madelyn Gould 教授;印度班加罗尔国立精神卫生与神经科学研究所的 Gopalkrishna Gururaj 教授; 英国牛津的牛津大学自杀研究中心的 Keith Hawton 教授;瑞士日内瓦 STOP Suicide 的 Irina Inostroza 女士;澳大利亚悉尼新南威尔士大学的精神病学学院的 Karalina Krysinska 博士;美国明尼苏达州明尼阿 波尼斯的 Investigative Journalism 的 Caroline Lowe 女士;英国伯恩茅斯的伯恩茅斯大学新闻、英语与 通信学院的 Anne Luce 博士;英国伦敦密德萨斯大学科技学院的 Lisa Marzano 副教授;加拿大蒙特利尔魁 北克大学蒙特利尔分校自杀与安乐死研究和干预中心的 Brian Mishara 教授;法国里尔的里尔地区医院中 心的大学医学中心的 Charles-Edouard Notredame 博士;澳大利亚墨尔本的墨尔本大学心理健康中心的 Jane Pirkis 教授;苏格兰爱丁堡的爱丁堡大学的 Steve Platt 教授;德国慕尼黑的慕尼黑大学通信科学与传媒 研究系的 Sebastian Scherr 博士;爱沙尼亚塔林的塔林大学管理学院法律与社会学系爱沙尼亚-瑞典心理 健康和自杀协会(ERSI)的 Merike Sisask 教授;澳大利亚亨特心理健康研究所的 Jaelea Skehan 女士; 奥地利维也纳的维也纳危机干预中心的 Gernot Sonneck 教授;美国密歇根州底特律的韦恩州立大学的 Steven Stack 教授;奥地利维也纳医科大学公共卫生中心的社会与预防医学系自杀研究部的 Benedikt Till 助理教授;瑞典斯德哥尔摩的斯德哥尔摩大学媒体学系的 Michael Westerlund 博士;中国香港特别行政区 的香港大学的香港赛马会防止自杀研究中心的 Paul Yip 教授。 我们同样感谢下列参与审阅最新版本的专家:美国华盛顿的世界卫生组织美洲区域办事处的 Andrea Bruni 博士;瑞典斯德哥尔摩的卡罗林斯卡学院国家自杀研究和精神疾病预防中心(NASP)的 Vladimir Carli 博士;美国华盛顿的世界卫生组织美洲区域办事处的 Jorge Castro 博士、Claudina Cayetano 博士、Dévora Kestel 博士和 Carmen Marinez 女士; 美国华盛顿的自杀预防资源中心的 Bridgette Hausman 女士和 Jerry Reed 博士;澳大利亚布里斯班的格里菲斯大学澳大利亚自杀研究与预防研究所(AISRAP)的 Kairi Kolves 博 士;加拿大渥太华的加拿大精神健康委员会的 Ed Mantler 先生;中国上海的上海交通大学医学院精神卫生 系自杀研究与干预中心的 Michael Phillips 教授;法国巴黎 CRES 的 Jean-Pierre Soubrier 教授;美国华 盛顿的自杀预防行动联盟的 Kim Torguson 女士;印度金奈 SNEHA 的志愿卫生服务的 Lakshmi Vijayakumar 博士;瑞典斯德哥尔摩的卡罗林斯卡学院国家自杀研究和精神疾病预防中心(NASP)的 Danuta Wasserman 教授。 我们同样感谢参与编辑的瑞士的 David Bramley 先生,参与封面设计的世界卫生组织的 Denis Meissner 先生与参与图形设计与布局的日本的 Yusuke Nakazawa 先生。 非常感谢国际预防自杀协会(IASP)在自杀 预防活动方面与 WHO 的合作。 这一资源正在被广泛传播,希望它能被按照符合当地情况的方式翻译, 这是其生效的前提。 欢迎提出 IV 建议以及提交翻译和修改本资源的申请。 Alexandra Fleischmann 精神卫生与药物滥用司 世界卫生组织 Ella Arensman 主席 国际预防自杀协会 1 负责任地报道自杀:快速参考指南 六要 •要提供寻求帮助的准确信息 •要教授公众有关自杀和自杀预防的相关知识,而不传播自杀相关的流言 •要报道如何应对生活压力或者自杀想法,以及如何获得帮助 •要特别谨慎小心报道名人自杀 •要谨慎采访自杀者家人或者朋友 •要意识到媒体工作人员自身可能会受到所报道的自杀事件的影响 六不要 •不要将有关自杀的报道放在显著的位置,也不要过度重复这样的报道 •不要使用煽情或者将自杀正常化的语言,也不要将自杀描述为个体面对问题时一种有建设性的解决方案 •不要详细描述自杀所使用的方法 •不要提供关于自杀地点/位置的详细信息 •不要使用耸人听闻的新闻题目 •不要使用照片,现场录像或社交媒体的链接 2 引 言 自杀是一个重大的公共卫生问题,会带来深远的社会、情绪和经济后果。全世界每年大约有 80 万人自 杀死亡。据估计,一人自杀至少有 6 人会受到直接的影响。 自杀的危险因素及预防自杀是复杂的,不容易被完全了解。但越来越多的证据表明,媒体在增强或削 弱预防自杀的效果上可以发挥重要作用。媒体关于自杀的报道可能会减少或者增加模仿性自杀的风险。媒 体可以提供关于自杀的有益的教育信息,或者也可能传播错误的相关信息。 一方面,自杀易感的个体在媒体报道自杀后会有模仿自杀行为的风险,特别是在报道的传播范围广泛、 影响力巨大、耸人听闻、明确地描述自杀的方法,肯定自杀行为或重复介绍有关自杀的流言的情况下。当 自杀者有很高的社会地位和/或者是名人,那么模仿性自杀的风险尤其大。不恰当地报道自杀也会引发随后 长时间的模仿性自杀。媒体报道会增加自杀危险的现象被称为“维特效应”,这是以歌德的小说“少年维特 之烦恼”中的人物来命名的,该小说讲的是一个青年因失恋而自杀的故事。 另一方面,对自杀负责任的报道可能有助于教授公众有关自杀及其预防的知识,可能会鼓励那些有自 杀危险的人采取其他的积极应对方式,并且可能引发社会对自杀及其预防更开放和充满希望的讨论。在逆 境中积极寻求帮助的故事可能会加强自杀的保护因素或增强对自杀行为的阻止,进而预防自杀。所有媒体 关于自杀的报道全都应该包括有关到哪里可以寻求帮助的信息,最好是提供 24 小时/7 天全时间范围内都可 获得的公认的自杀预防服务的相关信息。媒体有关自杀的负责任的报道所起到的保护作用在科学文献中被 称为“帕帕盖娜效应”,这是以莫扎特的歌剧《魔笛》中的人物帕帕盖娜命名的。当他害怕他已经失去他的 爱人时,他就想要自杀,但是在最后一刻想起来其他的应对方式,后来他选择了其他的行为。 给予媒体的建议需要适应传统媒体和数字媒体的特点和发展,并且应该尽可能使更多的人了解自杀预 防的相关知识。数字媒体的特点是信息可以非常迅速地传播,因此很难监测和控制。尽管数字媒体和传统 媒体存在差异,但是从传统媒体对自杀行为的影响的研究中所获得的发现有助于在数字媒体中开展自杀预 防。同样,从数字媒体对增加自杀或者预防自杀的潜在作用中吸取到的经验教训有助于在传统媒体中开展 自杀预防。 这本小册子简要概述了目前媒体报道对自杀的影响,并且在认识到有时因为新闻价值而需要报道自杀 的情况下,为媒体专业人员提供有关如何报道自杀的知识。这本小册子就如何最好地确保报道的准确性、 负责性和恰当性方面提出了建议。这对于传统媒体和数字媒体报道都是适用的。 这本小册子承认不同的媒体类型在国家内和不同国家之间在自杀报道及其对自杀的描述上存在差异。 在如何恰当报道自杀,以及如何获得自杀案例的信息上存在文化差异。这本小册子旨在提供有关跨文化媒 3 体报道的一般指导原则,如果可能的话,鼓励媒体从业人员与当地的从事自杀预防工作的团体协作,一起 制定当地媒体报道指南。从众多国际专家参与到这本小册子的编写工作中就可以看出,自杀预防专家在全 球范围内都在积极行动。他们准备好了,而且他们能够并且愿意与媒体从业人员合作,来确保自杀报道是 负责任的,是鼓励传递准确的信息的,且是避免给易感人群带来自杀风险的。在一些国家,有关自杀报道 的指南已被纳入媒体的行为准则中。 这本小册子旨在为从事出版、广播和在线媒体的专业人员提供帮助。大多数指导建议都是针对所有媒 体形式的,但有些具体针对印刷媒体或数字媒体。对数字媒体的建议总结可参阅附件 1。针对网站、电影、 电视剧或舞台剧相关的预防自杀的指导并不在该手册范围内。如果需要相关信息,可参阅娱乐行业协会的 网 站(http:// www.eiconline.org)。 4 媒体报道影响自杀行为的科学证据 媒体报道是自杀行为的危险因素 100 多个研究探索了模仿性自杀(比如,有些自杀行为与媒体对单个或者多个自杀案例的报道直接相关)。 对这些研究的系统综述也得出了相同的结论:媒体对自杀案例的报道会导致随后更多的自杀行为。这些综 述 也认为,模仿性自杀行为在一些情形下更容易出现。特别是,重复报道和影响大/重点探讨的自杀案例与 模 仿性自杀行为的关联最强烈。如果报道的自杀者是名人且被读者或目击者所尊重的人,那么有关自杀的 报道 对随后自杀的影响则更大。特定的人群(如年轻人,有精神疾病的人,有自杀未遂史的人或者亲友自 杀死亡 的人)更容易出现模仿性自杀行为。当自杀者与读者或者目击者的特征在某些方面类似的时候,以 及读者或 目击者认同自杀者时,出现模仿性自杀行为的风险是最大的。此外,所报道的自杀案例的内容也 对模仿性自 杀起着重要作用:确认或者重复宣扬有关自杀的流言或者详细介绍自杀所采用的特定的方法更 容易导致模仿 性自杀。然而,根据媒体报道指南写出的有关自杀的报道则可以有效帮助预防自杀,并且不 会进一步诱导更 多的自杀行为。 媒体报道的积极影响 尽管在过去相当长一段时间里的研究都聚焦于媒体报道对自杀行为的不良影响,近些年越来越多的研 究探讨了负责任的媒体报道对预防自杀的潜在的积极影响。媒体对一些人处在负性环境中仍采用积极的建 设性的策略应对他们的自杀想法的一些报道,与自杀行为的减少显著相关。进一步的研究表明描述如何应 对自杀意念的教育性媒体报道也许能够帮助减少自杀行为。 更多有关于媒体报道对自杀影响的科技文献详见附件 3。 5 负责任的报道 提供可以到哪里寻求帮助的准确信息 媒体报道在描述所有自杀案例之后都应该提供支持资源的信息。这些特定的资源应该包括自杀预防中 心、危机热线和其他的健康和福利的专业机构和自助团体。所提供的关于可以到哪里寻求帮助的信息应该 尽可能包括可提供 24 小时/7 天的高质量服务的社区内的机构。这些支持资源应该为处于痛苦或将自杀视为 解决问题途径的人提供获得帮助的方法。报道中列出来的支持资源的地址或者联系信息一定要定期检查, 以确保这些信息是准确的。然而,提供过多的潜在资源可能会适得其反,因此应该只提供有限的资源信息 (比如,一个电话号码和一个网站)。 教育公众有关自杀和自杀预防的事实,不传播流言 人们对自杀有许多误解。研究显示,媒体报道若重复出现有关自杀的流言则很容易诱发自杀行为。研 究也显示在媒体报道中既有流言也有事实的情况下,公众倾向于记住流言。一些最常见的有关自杀的流言 和事实列在附件 4 中。因此媒体要优先报道有关自杀的事实。在讨论自杀的时候,除了仔细探讨自杀的真 实信息以外,报道如何预防自杀,阐述处于自杀危险中的人应该寻求帮助,以及说明如何获得相应帮助也 往往有助于在实践中预防自杀。 报道如何应付生活中的压力或者自杀想法,和如何获得帮助 描述一个人成功应对负性境遇和自杀的故事可能会帮助其他处于生活困境中的人采用类似的积极应对 策略。要鼓励在新闻报道中整合一些在面临似乎难以应付的困难时如何获取帮助的教育性材料。这些报道 通常重点介绍其他人战胜自杀想法所采用的特定方法,并强调一个人想实施自杀的时候能够做什么来获得 帮助。 当报道名人自杀的时候要特别小心 名人自杀被认为是有新闻价值的,且媒体人认为报道名人的自杀会引起社会大众的关注。然而,对名 人的报道却特别容易引发易感人群的模仿性自杀行为。美化名人的死亡可能不经意传递出社会赞赏自杀行 为的信号,从而促使他人的自杀行为。因此,当报道名人自杀的时候要特别注意。对名人自杀的报道切记 不应该给自杀带上光环或者详细描述自杀方法。报道的重点应该是名人们的一生,比如他或她对社会做出 6 了什么贡献,以及他们的死亡给他人带来怎样的负面影响,而非自杀行为的细节或者简单解释为什么会自 杀。此外,当不能即刻获得死亡原因时,报道名人自杀的时候也应该要小心。媒体报道关于名人可能是自 杀死亡的猜测是错误的。应该要等死亡原因明确,以及认真探究过当时的具体情形后,再给予准确报道。 如上所言,所有报道都应该包括能为处于或者可能由于名人自杀面临痛苦或者自杀危险的人提供支持资源 的相关内容。 当采访居丧亲友时要小心 自杀者亲友的观点可能是让大众学习有关自杀的真实信息的非常有价值的资源。然而,在收集这些信 息,并将其融入到自杀相关的媒体报道中的时候,要考虑许多关键的因素。当采访涉及到可能处于心理危 机中的自杀者的亲友和其他居丧的人时需要特别小心。不能草率做出采访自杀居丧者的决定。尊重他们的 隐私比写一个戏剧性的故事更重要。在一些国家,记者进行此类采访的时候需要遵从相关的行为守则。 对媒体从业人员来说,作为调查的一部分,他们可能会获得有关自杀或者逝者的一些信息,目击者和/ 或居丧者可能并不知道的,认识到这一点至关重要。公布这些信息可能会给居丧者带来伤害。从居丧者那 里获得的访谈信息的准确性也有待斟酌,因为他们对自杀者的回忆、陈述或者行为会由于正处于居丧期而 有所偏倚。 如果自杀案例不是近期发生,媒体对那些已经成功应对自杀居丧者的报道,也能够做出一些贡献,如 作为一种重要的资源,提高大众意识还有为其他人在应对类似情况时提供一种可行的选择。然而,即使实 际的丧失发生在很久之前,务必记住,与居丧者谈论自杀相关的既往经历可能会引起他们痛苦的回忆和情 绪。自愿告诉媒体自杀相关信息的居丧者可能并没有意识到众多隐私被广泛地传播,这些也许会给他们带 来潜在的不良后果。因此要提前与他们沟通这些可能性,并采取相应措施保护他们的隐私。可能的话,应 该在报道发表之前给居丧者看一下包含了他们个人信息的报道,这样可以在公开发表前纠正报道中的某些 信息或者做一些其他方面的更改。 认识到媒体从业人员自己可能会受到自杀报道的影响 准备自杀相关的报道材料的过程可能会引起媒体从业人员自身经历的共鸣。这种影响可能发生在所有 情形之中,但在小范围的、联结紧密的社区里,由于媒体从业人员与当地会有较强的联结,影响可能尤为 大。媒体机构有责任确保对从业人员提供必要支持,比如给予倾诉的机会和给予督导。个体的媒体从业人 员如果感到负面影响,要毫不犹豫地去寻求帮助。 7 不要将有关自杀的报道放在显著位置,也不要一直重复这类报道 将自杀的报道置于突出的位置和重复报道自杀案例比巧妙的表述更容易导致随后的自杀行为。报纸报 道自杀最好应该将新闻至于内页,且在页面底部,而不要放在报纸首页或在内页的最上面的位置。同样, 广播有关自杀的新闻应该放在电视新闻的第二或者第三个休息时段,此外将广播或者在线播放的顺序放在 后面,而不要置于头条。重复该自杀事件或者更新事件信息的时候要格外小心。 不要使用将自杀敏感化或者将自杀正常化的语言,或者将自杀视为解 决 问题的建设性方法 要避免使用将自杀敏感化的言语。比如使用“增加自杀率”而非“自杀的流行”。当报道自杀案例的时 候,要传递出自杀是一个公共卫生问题,要讲述自杀的危险因素,并教授如何预防自杀,这样有助于教育 公众预防自杀的重要性。 一定要避免发布误导公众有关自杀的信息或者使用将自杀正常化的语言,另外也避免对自杀行为进行 简单化的归因。如果自杀统计数字有明显改变,应该进行验证,因为这些数字可能只是暂时的波动,而不 一 定是具有统计学意义的增加或者降低。在特定情境外使用“自杀”的词语,比如“政治自杀”,可能会使 公众 对其严重性不敏感。“不成功的自杀”或者“成功的自杀”这样的术语会传递出一种死亡是理想的结果 的讯息, 因此不应该使用这样的术语。使用替代性术语“非致命性自杀行为”则更加准确,不易引起误解。 “执行自 杀”意味着犯罪(自杀在某些国家仍是一个犯罪行为),会增加对亲友自杀的个体的不必要的歧视。 最好说“自 杀死亡”或“夺走了他/她的生命”。 不要清楚地描述自杀所使用的方法 应该避免详细描述和/或讨论自杀所采用的方法,因为这会增加易感人群模仿自杀行为的可能性。比如 在报道过量服药而自杀死亡的时候,不能详细报道药物牌子/名字、使用量或者药物的联合使用,或者如何 获得的药等信息。 当自杀方法少见或者新颖,报道的时候也要特别注意。使用不常见的方法自杀可能使死亡更加有新闻 价值,报道自杀方法可能会激发其他人使用该方法。新的方法很容易就会通过媒体报道而传播出去,这种 影响会通过社交媒体而扩大。 8 不要提供有关自杀地方/位置的详细信息 有时候媒体报道的自杀位置可能会成为“自杀圣地”,比如,一座桥、一幢高楼、一个山崖或者火车站 或者十字路口等。媒体从业人员一定要注意不要特别报道自杀的地点,比如使用追求轰动效应的语言描述 事发地点或者过度描述在某个地方发生了多少起自杀事件。同样也要注意,对出现在教育机构或者特定机 构,尤其是那些易感人群的机构(比如监狱和精神病院)的自杀死亡或者自杀未遂进行报道的时候,必须 要非常小心。 不要使用耸人听闻的标题 标题的目的是尽可能使用较少的词来吸引读者的关注。自杀这个字眼不应放在标题里,并且也不要在 标题中涉及自杀方法或者自杀地点。如果标题是由其他媒体从业人员写的,而不是那些撰写正文的从业人 员写的,写正文的作者应该与标题的写作者一起协作确保所选择的标题的准确性。 不要使用照片,未经剪辑的视频录像或者电子媒体链接 不应该使用自杀现场的照片、未经剪辑的视频录像或社交媒体链接,特别是有关自杀地点或者方法的 具体信息的资料。此外,在使用自杀死亡者照片的时候要特别小心。如果使用了图片,要首先征得死者家 人的同意方可。这些图片不应放在显著的位置,也不应该美化自杀的个体或者自杀行为。研究表明与自杀 行为相关的图片会被易感的读者在处于个人危机等负性情况下激活,并可能促发他们的自杀行为。文字编 辑者与图片处理师之间要相互配合,因为负责文字的编辑有时候不对图片的使用负责。自杀死亡者的自杀 笔记、遗书、社交媒体帖子、电子邮件等信息不应该公开。 9 可靠信息来源 媒体报道自杀的时候,要使用有可靠来源的自杀统计数据和自杀相关的其他信息。许多国家的政府统 计部门会提供年自杀率的相关数据,通常会包含不同年龄段和性别的自杀率。世界卫生组织成员国家向世 界卫生组织报道包括自杀在内的死亡数据 (http://www.who.int/healthinfo/mortality_data/en/)。这些数据和 统计指标应该被认真和准确解读。 媒体从业人员在准备自杀报道的时候,应该向当地自杀预防领域专家寻求相关建议。这些专家能够帮 助解读有关自杀的数据,确保有关自杀的报道能避免模仿性自杀行为的增加,驳斥有关自杀行为的流言, 提供有用的信息来识别和帮助正在考虑结束生命的人。 国家和地区性自杀预防机构通常有特定的媒体联系信息。许多国家有提供自杀相关信息的协会。有一 些协会在提供信息的同时扮演着预防自杀的角色。这些协会给目前有自杀想法或者因亲友自杀而处于居丧 的人提供支持,提供宣传服务,和/或促进有关自杀的研究。国际预防自杀协会相当于这些协会的国际联合 体。国际预防自杀协会(https://www.iasp.info)的网站上有帮助媒体准备自杀报道的详细的背景信息,包 括预防自杀的机构清单和来自一些国家的媒体报道自杀的指南。著名专家、预防自杀机构和公共卫生机构 也已经制定了多种语言的最佳的媒体报道自杀的建议(http://www.reportingonsuicide.org)。 注意:不要随意比较各国的自杀率。各国有不同的法律以及登记报告自杀的程序可能导致数据不一致。 10 附件 1 对数字媒体的思考 如今人们获得信息的渠道,远远超过以往。传统媒体和在线媒体信息有越来越多的重合。网络已经成 为自杀相关信息传播的重要平台,尤其是对于年轻人和处于自杀高风险的人来说。本手册用于指导传统媒 体和数字媒体的新闻报道。然而,通过数字媒体报道自杀和管理网络上潜在的自杀内容存在其他的挑战。 近些年已经制定了特定的指南来协助解决这些问题。 避免在社交媒体中使用自杀材料的超链接很重要。不应该使用视频或者音频资料(比如,自杀者拨打 的急救电话音频)或者自杀现场的社交媒体链接,尤其是如果资料中包含了明确的自杀地点或者方法,那 就更不能使用这些资料。此外,使用自杀死亡者个体的照片的时候必须要谨慎小心。搜索引擎优化工作需 要致力于避免使用有害的言辞,尤其是标题中的言辞。就如对待传统媒体一样,展现数据的时候要认真检 查,防止对自杀统计数字的过度夸大或者过度哗众取宠。媒体平台管理者应该建立足够的政策来处理数字 媒体中评论区的潜在自杀相关内容,比如在线报纸或者印刷版报纸的网站,并及时反馈与自杀相关的内容。 已开发出一套最佳的在线干预技术(http://www.preventtheattempt.com),用来服务大、中、小型有网 络平台的组织和公司,提供关于如何整合网络资源和自杀干预的互动成分的初级、中级和进阶级指导。基 础指导包括:提供有支持资源信息的帮助中心和常见自杀问题解答,以及建立关于如何应对有潜在自杀风 险的用户的政策、执法介入政策、自杀内容应对的时效,还有关于将可能要自杀的个体转介到哪里的信息。 另外 SAVE 组织 ( Suicide Awareness Voices of Education ) 还开发出了 一套面向博主的指 导 (https://www.bloggingonsuicide.org)。这些指导基于传统媒体指南的内容,强调了博客中经常遇到的安全问 题以及如何处理这些问题。 11 附件 2 对大规模枪击和恐怖主义的报道 关于大规模枪击和恐怖主义的媒体报道的模仿性效应的研究深入程度不如关于自杀的媒体报道的模仿 性效应的相关研究。然而,也有一些证据表明有关谋杀的煽情性报道会诱发进一步的杀人行为。这些案例 通常会受到媒体的大量关注,可能包括或不包括谋杀之后或之中的自我导向的暴力行为。如果这样的事件 包括自杀,这不应该被描述为自杀袭击或者自杀爆炸,因为这会放大了自杀行为的负性标签。将这些案件 称为“他杀性爆炸”或者“大规模枪击”可能措辞更准确,因为这些行为的主要目的是杀害他人。只有一 些犯罪可能是自杀性质的。在报道这些谋杀的时候,切记罪犯可能不是自杀,也可能没有精神障碍,大多 数大规模枪杀并不是由有精神障碍的个体实施的。自杀暴力教育((SAVE)引导的国际专家小组开发了有关 如何报道这类事件的指导,包括减少媒体对罪犯的过度关注,因为对罪犯的特别强调可能会导致其他人认 同罪犯并从罪犯身上得到启发,从而犯下类似的罪行。 12 附件 3 媒体对自杀影响的科研文献综述 媒体的负面影响 最早的有关媒体对自杀行为影响的证据是在 18 世纪后期出现的,当时歌德发表了小说“少年维特的烦 恼”,在小说中主人公维特因为无法娶到自己爱慕的女子而用枪自杀。小说发表后,牵连了欧洲各地的一系 列自杀事件。许多自杀的人都穿着和维特一样的衣服,采用了他的自杀方式,或模仿歌德小说中描述的其 他内容。结果这部小说在几个欧洲国家被禁止。 直到 20 世纪 70 年代 Phillips 发表了一项研究(1),报导自杀事件或自杀描述会引起模仿性自杀行为 的证据一直都是轶事形式的。该研究回顾性地比较了美国报纸头版出现自杀报道的文章后几个月内的自杀 数与没有此类文章报道后几个月内的自杀数。在长达 20 年的研究期内,有 33 个月报纸头版上报道了自杀, 这 33 个月中有 26 个月的自杀数有所增长。Schmidtke 和 Hafner(2)发现电视广播的连续播放也会出现此 种模仿效应。 自从 Phillips发表了该研究结果后,已有超过 100个研究探讨了模仿性自杀。总而言之,这些研究用 不 同的研究方式验证和强化了媒体对自杀有影响的研究结论。第一,他们使用了改进的方法。例如, Wasserman (3)和 Stack(4) 重复了 Phillips的最初研究,并扩大了研究观察期,使用更加复杂的时间序列 回归技术, 并考虑了自杀率,而非绝对的自杀数。第二,这些研究检验了不同媒体的影响,比如 Bollen和 Phillips(5), 以及 Stack(6)研究了覆盖整个国家的美国电视新闻对自杀的影响,发现电视播出以后,自杀 率显著增加。 此外,虽然大部分的早期研究仅限于美国本土,并只考虑了自杀死亡的问题,后续的研究涉 及到了亚洲和 欧洲国家,并且关注了媒体对自杀未遂的影响。比如 Cheng(7, 8)和 Yip(9),chen(10)的研究都 发现中国(台 湾和香港)和韩国在新闻中报道名人自杀后,自杀死亡和自杀未遂的案例显著增加。 Etzersdorfer, Voracek 和 Sonneck的研究(11)发现了类似的结果:澳大利亚发行最大的报纸报道名人自杀 后自杀死亡和未遂显著 上升,在报纸发行最多的地方自杀增长尤其高。最近的研究在评估媒体对自杀的影 响之前还评估了媒体报 道的内容的特征。Pirkis和其同事(12)在不同的报道内容的基础上区分了各种不同 类型的媒体报道。他们 发现重复报道自杀的方法和强化公众对自杀的错误理解与后续的自杀增加有关。值得 注意的是,Gould和其 同事发现报纸报道自杀更容易引发青少年的模仿性自杀行为,尤其是当报道更显眼 (比如,在头版或者包 含图片)、更直白(比如题目包含“自杀”或详细介绍自杀的方法)、更具体(比 如包括死者的姓名、自 杀的方法或者自杀笔记),以及报道的是自杀死亡而非自杀未遂时,则更容易诱发 自杀(13)。 13 对媒体和自杀关系的研究的系统综述得出了一些一致的研究结论:媒体报道自杀会导致自杀行为的增 加(14-17)。这些综述也观察到了自杀行为增加的可能性随着新闻报道后的时间而变化。通常报道后最初的 三天内是诱发自杀的高峰,接下来的 2周维持平衡(5,18),但有时持续更久(19)。自杀的增加与新闻覆盖的 数量和显著性有关,重复报道,以及有较高影响的自杀案例与模仿性自杀行为最密切相关(10,11,20-22)。 当自杀的个体与读者有相似之处(22, 23),或者自杀的是名人,被读者所尊重,则会加剧自杀行为的增加 (3,4,7,9,22,24)。对娱乐界名人自杀事件的煽情性或者美化性报道与随后自杀的最大增加相关(25)。这些 研 究证据 都表明 媒体对名 人自杀 的煽情 性新闻报 道引起 的后续 一个月内 平均自 杀率的 增加达到 0.26/100000,但对艺人自杀的报道造成的自杀率的增加则更高(0.64/100000)(25)。媒体对自杀的影响也 依赖于受众的特征。一些人群(青年,经历抑郁的人,处于居丧的人)尤其易感,更有可能增加出现自杀 意念或者模仿性自杀的概率(18,26-29)。对某种自杀方式的过度描述会导致采用该自杀方式自杀的行为增 加(10, 30-33)。 媒体的保护作用 也有一些关于媒体发挥积极作用的证据。这些研究研讨媒体对自杀的恰当报道是否能够降低自杀死亡 率和自杀未遂率。Etzersdorfer 和其同事们发现,向媒体介绍如何报道维也纳地铁的自杀案例的指南能够 减少对这些自杀事件的煽情性的报道,继而导致借助地铁而自杀的比例下降 75%,且维也纳整体的自杀率下 降 20%(34~36)。多次发放这些指南提高了奥地利自杀报道的质量,并降低了奥地利的自杀率,尤其是在 那些媒体与社区协作比较强的地区,媒体的积极影响更加显著(37)。来自澳大利亚、中国、中国香港、德 国和瑞士的研究同样表明媒体报道指南的发放与自杀报道的质量呈正相关。不过媒体报道指南的有效性取 决于指南的成功执行(38, 39)。源于澳大利亚(http://www. MordFrimeMultudio. Fig),奥地利(http://www. SusidIffsHung.at),中国香港特别行政区(http:// www. csp.HKU.HK/Media/),瑞士(http:// www-StupStudio.Ch)、 英国(HTTP: //www.SAMARITANS.Org/MealaTimeRe/)和美国(HTTP://www.RePrutoNoSusiDe. Org)在内的几 个 国家的经验为执行媒体指南提供了重要的见解,这可能对其他国家有指导意义。 关于媒体报道有自杀预防效应的更多证据来自 Niederkrotenthaler 和同事的研究。 他们发现在媒体覆盖 人口较多的地区,某类专注于积极应对/掌握危机事件的媒体报道可以更好地降低该地区的自杀率(21)。 媒 体对自杀潜在的保护作用被称为帕帕盖娜效应,该名词来源于莫扎特的歌剧《魔笛》中的主人公,他想 出了 除了自杀以外其他可以解决问题的方法,从而改变了自己最初的自杀想法。,自此。在第一个帕帕盖娜 效应的研究后,其他一些研究也发现了包括建立积极应对方式和提供预防自杀信息的媒体报道会对自杀有 保 护作用(28, 38, 40)。 总体而言,对媒体和自杀的研究综述发现,尽管媒体对自杀预防既有积极作用也有消极作用,目前为 14 止大多数研究都聚焦于消极作用上(17)。 数字媒体 仅有的少量探索了自杀相关的在线媒体报道的研究表明,媒体报道对自杀既有保护和也有不利的影响。 因为在线媒体很容易获得,且常为年轻人所使用,所以数字媒体对那些需要帮助的有自杀倾向的人而言是 有潜在价值的资源。处于自杀危险中的个体经常反馈在使用社交媒体的时候疏离感会变淡,并且有时候也 会反馈在线活动减少了他们的自杀想法。在网站和留言板上,提供建设性的帮助并积极避免将自杀正常化 或者宽恕自杀行为,这些活动对自杀的预防作用尤其明显。 然而,自杀行为正常化的可能性、自杀和自杀方法获得途径的图片,以及可以用来进行欺凌和骚扰的 渠 道是预防自杀关注的重点(41, 42)。也有一些网站宣扬自杀,描述不同自杀方法的细节,鼓励自杀行为, 或招 募自杀者个体。越来越多的案例研究表明留言板可以作为学习自杀方法的工具,且可以促发易感人群 实施 自杀行为。 结论 既往研究提供强力的证据表明,关于媒体对自杀的煽动性报道会导致随后更多的自杀行为(自杀死亡 和 自杀未遂)。这些一定时间内自杀的增加并不仅仅是本来就会发生的自杀事件的提前发生(如果是这样的 话, 在自杀增加后会有自杀率的补偿性下降),而是额外增加的自杀。如果没有不适当的媒体报道,这些额 外的自 杀是不会发生的。 近些年才有研究关注到媒体对自杀的负责任报道对自杀的潜在保护效应,研究发现这种负责任的报道 的 有力证据正在出现。 媒体专业人士应谨慎对待自杀报道,平衡公众的“知情权”和对大众不利的风险。 参考文献 1. Phillips DP. The influence of suggestion on suicide: substantive and theoretical implications of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1974;39(3):340-54. 2. Schmidtke A, Haner H. The Werther effect after television films: new evidence for an old hypothesis. Psychol Med. 1988;18(3):665-76. 3. Wasserman IM. Imitation and suicide: a re-examination of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1984;49(3):427-36. 15 4. Stack S. A reanalysis of the impact of non-celebrity suicides: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1990;25(5):269-73. 5. Bollen KA, Phillips DP. Imitative suicides: a national study of the effects of television news stories. Am Sociol Rev. 1982;47(6):802-9. 6. Stack S. The effect of publicized mass murders and murder-suicides on lethal violence, 1968-1980: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1989;24(4):202-8. 7. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Lee CTC, Chen THH. The influence of media reporting of the suicide of a celebrity on suicide rates: a population-based study. Int J Epidemiol. 2007;36(6):1229-34. 8. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chen CY, Chen LC, et al. The influence of media coverage of a celebrity suicide on subsequent suicide attempts. J Clin Psychiatry. 2007;68(6):862-6. 9. Yip PSF, Fu KW, Yang KCT, Ip BYT, Chan CLW, Chen EYH et al. The effects of a celebrity suicide on suicide rates in Hong Kong. J Affect Disord. 2006;93(1-3):245-52. 10. Chen YY, Yip PS, Chan CH, Fu KW, Chang SS, Lee WJ et al. The impact of a celebrity's suicide on the introduction and establishment of a new method of suicide in South Korea. Arch Suicide Res. 2014;18(2):221-6. 11. Etzersdorfer E, Voracek M, Sonneck G. A dose-response relationship of imitational suicides with newspaper distribution. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001;35(2):251. 12. Pirkis JE, Burgess PM, Francis C, Blood RW, Jolley DJ. The relationship between media reporting of suicide and actual suicide in Australia. Soc Sci Med. 2006;62:2874–86. 13. Gould M., Kleinman MH, Lake AM, Forman J, Basset Midle J. Newspaper coverage of suicide and initiation of suicide clusters in teenagers in the USA, 1988-96: a retrospective, population-based, case-control study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2014;1(1): 34-43. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70225-1. 14. Pirkis J, Blood RW. Suicide and the media: (1) Reportage in non-fictional media. Crisis. 2001;22(4):146-54. 15. Stack S. Media impacts on suicide: a quantitative review of 293 findings. Soc Sci Q. 2000;81(4):957-72. 16. Stack S. Suicide in the media: a quantitative review of studies based on non-fictional stories. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2005;35(2):121-33. 17. Sisask M, V 鋜 nik A. Media roles in suicide prevention: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 16 2012;9(1):123-38. 18. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide. N Engl J Med. 1986;315(11):685-9. 19. Fu KW, Yip PSF. Long-term impact of celebrity suicide on suicidal ideation: Results from a population-based study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007;61(6):540-6. 20. Hassan R. Effects of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia: a research note. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1995;29(3):480-3. 21. Niederkrotenthaler T, Voracek M, Herberth A, Till B, Strauss M, Etzersdorfer E et al. Role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide – Werther v. Papageno effects. Br J Psychiatry. 2010;197:234–43. 22. Niederkrotenthaler T, Till B, Voracek M, Dervic K, Kapusta ND, Sonneck G. Copycat-effects after media reports on suicide: a population-based ecologic study. Soc Sci Med. 2009;69:1085–90. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckp034. 23. Stack S. Audience receptiveness, the media, and aged suicide, 1968-1980. J Aging Stud. 1990;4(2):195-209. 24. Stack S. Celebrities and suicide: a taxonomy and analysis. Am Sociol Rev. 1987;52 (3):401-12. 25. Niederkrotenthaler T, Fu KW, Yip P, Fong DYT, Stack S, Cheng Q, et al. Changes in suicide rates following media reports on celebrity suicides: a meta-analysis. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012;66:1037–42. 26. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chang JC, Chong MY et al. The influence of media reporting of a celebrity suicide on suicidal behaviour in patients with a history of depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2007;103:69-75. 27. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. The effect of suicide stories on various demographic groups, 1968-1985. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1988;18(1):100-14. 28. Till B, Strauss M, Sonneck G, Niederkrotenthaler T. Determining the effects of films with suicidal content: a laboratory experiment. Br J Psychiatry. 2015;207(1):72-8. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.152827. 29. Scherr S, Reinemann C. Belief in a Werther effect: third-person effects in the perceptions of suicide risk for others and the moderating role of depression. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2011;41(6):624–34. 30. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning: a current epidemic. BMJ. 1979;2(6193):769-70. 31. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning as an epidemic phenomenon: an analysis of 82 deaths and inquests 17 in England and Wales in 1978-79. Psychol Med. 1981;11(4):735-9. 32. Veysey MJ, Kamanyire R, Volans GN. Antifreeze poisonings give more insight into copycat behaviour. BMJ. 1999;319(7217):1131. 33. Hawton K, Simkin S, Deeks J, O'Connor S, Keen A, Altman DG et al. Effects of a drug overdose in a television drama on presentations to hospital for self-poisoning: time series and questionnaire study. BMJ. 1996;318(7189):972-7. 34. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G. Preventing suicide by influencing mass- media reporting: the Viennese experience 1980-1996. Arch Suicide Res. 1998;4(1):64-74. 35. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G, Nagel Kuess S. Newspaper reports and suicide. N Engl J Med. 1992;327(7):502-3. 36. Sonneck G, Etzersdorfer E, Nagel Kuess S. Imitative suicide on the Viennese subway. Soc Sci Med. 1994;38(3):453-7. 37. Niederkrotenthaler T, Sonneck G. Assessing the impact of media guidelines for reporting on suicides in Austria: interrupted time series analysis. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2007;41(5):419-28. 38. Stack S, Niederkrotenthaler T, editors. Media and suicide: international perspectives on research, theory & policy. Piscataway (NJ): Transaction Publishers; 2017. 39. Tatum PT, Canetto SS, Slater MD. Suicide coverage in U.S. newspapers following the publication of the media guidelines. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2010;40:525-35. 40. Till B, Tran U, Voracek M, Niederkrotenthaler T. Papageno vs. Werther Effect online: randomized controlled trial of beneficial and harmful impacts of educative suicide prevention websites. Br J Psychiatry. 2017. Online first: doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.115.177394 41. Robinson J, Cox G, Bailey E, Hetrick S, Rodrigues M, Fisher S et al. Social media and suicide prevention: a systematic review. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2016;10(2):103-21. 42. Daine K, Hawton K, Singaravelu V, Stewart A, Simkin S, Montgomery P. The power of the web: a systematic review of studies of the influence of the internet on self-harm and suicide in young people. PLoS One. 2013;30;8(10):e77555. 18 附件 4 自杀的流言与事实 流言:谈论自杀是一个坏主意,会被解释为鼓励自杀。 事实:基于人们对自杀普遍存在的耻感,大 多数想要自杀的人不知道和谁去说。公开谈论自杀会帮助 个体找到其他的解决问题的方法或者给其时间重做决定,从而会预防自杀,而不是鼓励自杀行为。 流言: 说要自杀的人,并不会自杀。 事实:谈论自杀的人可能正在寻求帮助或支持。大部分考虑自杀的人正在经历焦虑、抑郁和无助,并 且可能觉得除了自杀别无选择了。 流言:考虑自杀的人下定决定就要死。 事实:恰恰相反,考虑自杀的人通常是矛盾重重的,对于生还是死犹豫不决。比如有的人可能冲动下 服下农药,尽管他们其实想活下来,也会在几天后死亡。在这个犹豫的关键时刻获得情感支持可以预防自 杀。 流言:大多数自杀都是在没有征兆的情况下突然发生的。 事实: 大多数自杀事件之前都有警示信号,无论是言语或者行为上的信号。当然,一些自杀事件的确 是在没有任何征兆的情况下发生。但了解征兆信号是什么,并且留意这些警示信号还是很重要的。 流言:一旦有人有自杀想法,他或她将永远有自杀的想法。 事实:自杀风险的增高往往是短期的,且是在特定情形下出现的。虽然自杀想法可能会回来,但它们 并不是永久性的,以前有过自杀想法和自杀行为的人依然可以继续生活下去。 流言:只有患精神障碍的人才会自杀。 事实:自杀行为表明个体非常不快乐,而未必是得了精神障碍。许多患有精神疾病的人不一定有自杀 风险,也不是所有自杀的人都有精神障碍。 流言:自杀行为很容易解释。 事实:事实上自杀从来不是单一因素或事件的结果。导致个人自杀的因素通常是复杂多样的,不应以 简单的方式进行解读和报道。要理解自杀行为,需要考虑到身体健康、心理健康、应激性生活事件、社会 19 和文化因素。冲动在自杀中也扮演着重要的角色。精神疾病可能会影响个体应对生活压力和人际冲突的能 力,因此患有精神疾病的人更可能出现自杀风险。然而,仅仅精神疾病不足以解释自杀。将自杀原因归为 某个特定事件,比如考试失败或关系破裂,几乎总是会有误导性。在死亡原因尚未充分调查清楚的情况下, 不宜对死亡的原因和促发因素过早下结论。 流言:自杀是解决问题的适当方式。 事实:事实上自杀不是一种建设性的或适当的解决问题的方法,也不是面对痛苦或者处理不利的生活 环境的唯一可能的方法。那些有过自杀想法且成功应对生活中困难的个体的故事能帮助其他目前有自杀想 法的个体在面对困难的时候做出自杀以外的选择。自杀也会对家庭成员、朋友和整个社区造成毁灭性的影 响,经常使他们怀疑是否可能错过了某些迹象,继而感到内疚、愤怒、歧视和/或被遗弃。自杀报道在不责 备自杀者亲友的前提下,以一种敏感的方式探索这些复杂的背后原因,从而帮助公众了解为自杀者亲友提 供适当的支持的必要性。 ` 北京回龙观医院北京心理危机研究与干预中心 2019年 1月
G 므:신론 and Welfare 세계보건기구게재 중앙심리부검센터 번역 츠아시리닌7�세E 000 T□L i Korea Psychological Autopsy Center 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS Update 2017 2017년도 개정판 중앙심리부검센터 번역 제공 PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 106 자살 예방 문헌집 Published by the World Health Organization in 2017 under the title preventing suicide: a resource for media professionals (update 2017) © World Health Organization 2017 The World Health Organization has granted a translation and publication permission for an edition in Korean to the Korea Psychological Autopsy Center, which is solely responsible for the quality and faithfulness of the Korean translation. In the event of any inconsistency between the English and the Korean editions, the original English edition shall be the binding and authentic edition. 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 © Korea Psychological Autopsy Center 2019 세계보건기구는 본 문서의 한국어 번역 및 출판 권한이 중앙심리부검센터에 귀속되는 데 동의하며, 한국어 번역에 대한 모든 책임은 중앙심리부검센터에 있음을 명시함. 원문과 번역본의 차이가 발생할 경우, 영문 원본이 기준이 됨. 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 107 General disclaimers. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. 일반 면책사항(General disclaimers): 본 출판물에서 사용하는 명칭이나 제시된 자료가 특정 국가, 영토, 도시 나 지역 또는 해당 당국의 합법적 상태에 관한, 또는 그 국경이나 경계선의 결정에 관한 WHO 측의 무엇이든 지 간에 어떤 의견이라도 표명함을 의미하지 않음. 지도상의 점선이나 파선은 아직 완전히 합의되지 않았을 수 도 있는 대략적인 경계선을 나타내고 있음. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WHO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. 특정 기업이나 어느 제조업체의 제품을 언급한다고 해서, 언급하지 않은 유사한 유형의 다른 기업이나 제품보 다 선호하기 때문에 WHO가 이를 보증 또는 권장함을 의미하지는 않음. 오류와 누락은 제외하고, 전매특허제 품의 명칭은 대문자 이니셜로 구별함. All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall WHO be liable for damages arising from its use. WHO는 타당한 모든 예방조치를 취하여 본 출판물에 기재된 정보를 확인하였음. 그러나, 본 출판물은 명시적 또는 암시적이든 간에 어떤 종류의 보증도 없이 배포되고 있음. 본 자료의 해석과 이용에 대한 책임은 독자에 게 있음. 어떤 경우에도 세계보건기구는 본 문서 이용으로 인하여 발생하는 피해에 대하여 책임 지지 않음. Printed in Switzerland 스위스에서 출판 PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 108 자살 예방 문헌집 CONTENTS 머리말 Foreword ························································································································ 109 1. 자살에 대한 책임 있는 보도: 빠른 참조 가이드 Responsible reporting on suicide: quick reference guide ······················································· 112 2. 서문 Introduction ·························································································································· 113 3. 언론이 자살 행위에 미치는 영향에 대한 구체적인 근거 Scientific evidence of media impacts on suicidal behaviour ··················································· 114 4. 책임 있는 보도를 위한 지침 Responsible reporting ································································ 115 5. 믿을만한 정보의 출처 Sources of reliable information ··························································· 118 6. 부록 1: 디지털 매체에 대한 고려사항 Annex 1: Considerations for digital media ················································································ 119 7. 부록 2: 총기 난사 및 테러 보도 Annex 2: Reporting on mass shootings and terrorism ···························································· 120 8. 부록 3: 언론의 영향에 대한 구체적인 학술 문헌의 개요 Annex 3: Overview of the scientific literature on media impacts ·········································· 121 9. 참고문헌 References ···················································································································· 124 10. 부록 4: 자살에 대한 근거 없는 믿음과 실제 Annex 4: Myths and facts about suicide ··············································································· 127 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 109 머 리 말 자살이라는 사회문제는 국민 건강에 매우 중요한 문제로서 많은 이들의 관심이 요구되며, 그 관리와 예방 이 그리 쉬운 일만은 아닌 것이 사실이다. 최근의 연구 결과에 따르면 자살 예방에는 어린이와 청소년을 잘 길러내는 환경 조성에서부터 시작해, 정신질환의 조기 발견과 효과적인 치료, 자살 위험요인에 대한 수단 관 리에 이르기까지 다양한 정책과 활동이 포함되기 때문이다. 따라서, 자살 예방이 성공적으로 이루어지기 위해 서는 다양한 분야에 적절한 정보가 보급되는 것은 물론, 일반인의 인식 제고가 필요하며, 모든 활동에서 문화 적, 연령 및 성별의 차이가 고려되어야 하겠다. 1999년에 WHO는 자살 예방을 위한 범세계적 계획에 착수하였다. 본 책자는 자살 예방과 밀접하게 관련 되어있는 사회 집단 및 전문가 집단을 대상으로 작성된 자료들 중의 한 문서에 대한 2차 개정판이다. 개정된 책자는 WHO와 국제자살예방협회(International Association for Suicide Prevention: IASP)의 지속적인 협 력을 통하여 완성되었다. 우리는 이 보고서가 의료종사자, 교육가, 사회기관, 정부, 입법자, 사회활동가, 법 집 행자, 가족과 지역사회 등 매우 다양한 사람과 집단들을 자살예방이라는 큰 틀로 연결하는 고리(link)가 되어 주기를 기대한다. 특히 본 책자의 초판을 제작한 호주 Diego de Leo 교수(Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland)에 게 힘입은 바가 크다. 또한 기술적 편집에 도움을 준 인도의 Lakshmi Vijayakumar 박사(SNEHA, Chennai) 에게도 감사드린다. 다음에 명시한 WHO 국제자살예방네트워크(International Network for Suicide Prevention) 회원들이 초판을 검토하였으며, 이 분들께도 감사의 마음을 전한다. Dr Sergio Perez Barrero, Hospital de Bayamo, Granma, Cuba; Dr Annette Beautrais, Christchurch School of Medicine, Christchurch, New Zealand; Dr Ahmed Okasha, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; Professor Lourens Schlebusch, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa; Professor Jean-Pierre Soubrier, Centre de Ressources en Suicidologie (CRES), Paris, France; Professor Airi Varnik, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; Professor Danuta Wasserman, National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill Health (NASP), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Dr Shutao Zhai, Nanjing Medical University Brain Hospital, Nanjing, China 본 책자의 1차 개정판은 호주의 Jane Pirkis 부교수(School of Population Health, University of Melbourne) 의 주도 하에 IASP의 언론 대책위원회(Media Task Force)가 수행하였다. 본 책자의 2차 개정판은 IASP의 자살보도 언론권고사항 대책위원회(Task Force on Media Recommendations for Suicide Reporting)가 수행하였으며 특히 오스트리아의 부교수 Thomas Niederkrotenthaler 박사(Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna)와, 개정작업을 총지휘한 대책위원회 공동의장인 미국 Daniel Reidenberg 박사(Suicide Awareness Voices of Education: SAVE)에게 감사드린다. 또한, 다음과 같은 IASP 자살보도 언론권고사항 대책위원회의 회원들에게도 그들의 기고에 감사드린다. PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 110 자살 예방 문헌집 Mr Karl Andriessen, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Professor Ella Arensman, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Ms Jane Arigho, Headline, Dublin, Ireland; Dr Loraine Barnaby, Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica; Dr Jo Bell, School of Health and Social Work, University of Hull, Hull, England; Professor Silvia Sara Canetto, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA; Assistant Professor Qijin Cheng, Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR), China; Professor Sunny Collings, Social Psychiatry and Population Mental Health Research Unit, University of Otago, Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Christchurch, New Zealand; Professor Diego De Leo,Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Professor Elmar Etzersdorfer, Furtbachkrankenhaus, Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Stuttgart, Germany; Professor Madelyn Gould, Columbia University Medical Center, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA; Professor Gopalkrishna Gururaj, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India; Professor Keith Hawton, Centre for Suicide Research, Oxford University, Oxford, England; Ms Irina Inostroza, STOP Suicide, Geneva, Switzerland; Dr Karolina Krysinska, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Ms Caroline Lowe, Investigative Journalism, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Dr Ann Luce, School of Journalism, English and Communication, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, England; Associate Professor Lisa Marzano, Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, England; Professor Brian Mishara, Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide and Euthanasia, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, Canada; Dr Charles-Edouard, Notredame, University Medical Center, Regional Hospital University Centre of Lille, Lille, France; Professor Jane Pirkis, Centre for Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Professor Steve Platt, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland; Dr Sebastian Scherr, Department of Communication Science and Media Research, University of Munich, (LMU), Munich, Germany; Professor Merike Sisask, Estonian-Swedish Mental Health and Suicidology Institute (ERSI), School of Governance, Law and Society, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia; Mrs Jaelea Skehan, Hunter Institute of Mental Health, Australia; Professor Gernot Sonneck, Crisis Intervention Centre Vienna, Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Professor Steven Stack, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA; Assistant Professor Benedikt Till, Suicide Research Unit, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Centre for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; Dr Michael Westerlund, Department of Media Studies, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Professor Paul Yip, Hong Kong, Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 111 2차 개정판을 검토한 아래의 전문가들께 또한 감사드린다. Dr Andrea Bruni, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Vladimir Carli, NASP, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Dr Jorge Castro, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Claudina Cayetano, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Mrs Bridgette Hausman, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Devora Kestel, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Kairi Kolves, Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP), Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Mr Ed Mantler, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Mrs Carmen Martinez, WHO Regional Office for the Americas, Washington, DC, USA; Professor Michael Phillips, Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Dr Jerry Reed, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, Washington, DC, USA; Professor Jean-Pierre Soubrier, CRES, Paris, France; Mrs Kim Torguson, Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Washington, DC, USA; Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, Voluntary Health Services, SNEHA, Chennai, India; Professor Danuta Wasserman, NASP, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. 편집 작업을 한 스위스의 David Bramley, 표지를 제작한 WHO의 Denis Meissner와, 그래픽 디자인 및 레이아웃을 담당한 일본의 Yusuke Nakazawa에게도 감사드린다. WHO는 본 책자를 제작할 수 있도록 재정을 지원한 일본 정부에 심심한 감사의 뜻을 전한다. 또한, 자살 예방에 관련된 활동을 WHO와 협력하여 수행한 IASP에 깊이 감사드린다. 현재 본 자료는 널리 보급되고 있는 중이며, 그 효과를 얻기 위한 선행 조건으로서, 현지 여건에 적합하게 번역되길 바란다. 본 자료에 관한 의견 제시와 번역 및 수정 허가 요청은 언제라도 환영한다. Alexandra Fleischmann 정신건강 및 물질남용국 (Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse) 세계보건기구(World Health Organization) Ella Arensman 회장 국제자살예방협회 (International Association for Suicide Prevention) PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 112 자살 예방 문헌집 1. 자살에 대한 책임 있는 보도: 빠른 참조 가이드 해야 할 일 Ÿ 도움 받을 수 있는 기관에 관한 정보를 정확히 제공 Ÿ 자살에 대한 근거없는 믿음(myth)을 유포하지 않는 보도 방식 Ÿ 생활 스트레스 요인 및 자살 충동을 극복하고 도움을 받는 방법에 대한 기사를 보도할 것 Ÿ 유명 인사의 자살 보도 시에 유의할 것 Ÿ 자살 유족 및 친구 면담 시 유의할 것 Ÿ 미디어 전문가 역시 자살 관련 기사에 영향을 받을 수 있음을 스스로 인지할 것 하지 말아야 할 일 Ÿ 자살 기사를 부각시키지 말고 불필요한 중복기사는 피할 것 Ÿ 자살을 선정적으로 다루거나 보편화하지 말고, 문제해결 방안으로 제시하지 말 것 Ÿ 자살 방법을 구체적으로 명시하지 않도록 유의할 것 Ÿ 자살 현장/장소를 구체적으로 명시하지 않도록 유의할 것 Ÿ 선정적인 표제 사용을 자제할 것 Ÿ 사진, 비디오 장면, 소셜 미디어 링크의 첨부를 자제할 것 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 113 2. 서문 자살은 주요 공중보건 문제로서, 이에 따른 사회적, 정서적, 경제적 영향은 광범위하다. 세계적으로 매년 약 80만 건의 자살이 발생하고 있으며, 1건의 자살 사망으로 적어도 6명이 직접적인 영향을 받 는 것으로 추정된다. 자살과 그 예방에 이르는 요인은 복합적이어서 충분히 규명되지 않고 있다. 하지만 언론이 자살 예 방 노력을 강화 또는 약화시키는데 중요한 역할을 할 수 있다는 증거가 많이 나타나고 있다. 자살 관 련 언론 보도로 모방 자살 위험이 늘어나거나 줄어들 수 있다. 즉 언론은 자살에 대해 유용하고도 교 육적인 정보를 제공할 수도 있지만, 반대로 자살에 대한 잘못된 정보를 제공할 수도 있다. 한편 취약한 사람들은 언론의 자살 보도를 보고 모방 행위를 할 수 있는 위험에 빠진다. 특히 보도 가 광범위하고, 두드러지며, 선정적이고, 자살 방법을 분명하게 나타내며 자살에 대한 넓게 퍼진 근거 없는 믿음을 용납하거나 지지하는 경우 그러하다. 자살사망자의 사회적 신분이 높거나 쉽게 누군지 알 수 있는 경우 특히 위험이 커진다. 후속적 자살을 유발하는 자살 보도는 보통 오랫동안 계속된다. 언론 보도가 자살 증가에 미치는 영향은 “베르테르 효과”라 부르는데 이는 괴테의 소설 “젊은 베르테 르의 슬픔”에서 연인을 잃어버려 자살한 주인공 베르테르의 이름을 따서 명명된 것이다. 반면, 자살에 대한 책임 있는 언론 보도는 자살과 자살 예방에 대하여 대중적으로 교육하는 방법이 될 수 있으며, 자살 위험에 처한 사람들에게 대안적인 행동을 권장하고, 보다 솔직하고 희망적인 대 화를 하도록 유도할 수 있다. 역경 속에서 긍정적으로 대처하는 기사는 자살에 대한 보호 요인을 강 조하여 자살 예방에 기여할 수 있다. 자살 관련 언론 보도에는 도움을 요청할 수 있는 기관에 대한 정보가 반드시 포함되어야 하는데, 가급적이면 24시간 운영되는 공인된 자살 예방 서비스 기관을 명 시해야 한다. 자살에 대한 책임 있는 언론 보도의 예방 효과는 전문용어로 “파파게노 효과”라고 하는 데 이는 모차르트의 오페라 “마술피리”에서 자기의 연인을 잃었다고 생각하여 자살 충동을 갖지만 마 지막 순간에 삶의 길을 택하는 등장인물 파파게노로부터 유래된 것이다. 언론 보도는 전통적 매체와 디지털 매체에 맞추어 이뤄져야 하며, 자살 예방에 대해 가능한 한 많 은 사람에게 전달되도록 해야 한다. 디지털 매체의 특징은 정보가 매우 빠르게 전파되어 그 감시나 통제가 더 어렵다는 점이다. 디지털 매체와 전통적 매체와의 차이에도 불구하고, 전통적 매체가 자살 행위에 미치는 영향에 대한 연구 결과는 디지털 매체의 자살 예방 조치를 알려주는데 도움이 될 수 있다. 반대로 디지털 매체가 자살 행위의 증가나 예방 역할을 할 수 있다는 교훈은 전통적 매체에서 자살 예방 조치를 알려주는데 상호 도움이 될 수 있다. 본 책자에서는 자살 관련 언론 보도가 대중에게 미치는 영향에 관한 지금까지의 증거를 간략히 요 약한 후, 자살을 뉴스로서 보도할 가치(newsworthiness)가 있다는 사실에 근거하여 미디어 전문가의 자살 보도 방식에 관한 정보를 제시한다. 본 책자는 이러한 뉴스가 정확하고, 책임있고, 적절하게 전 달될 수 있는 가장 확실한 방법을 제시하며, 이는 전통적 매체 및 디지털 매체 보도에 모두 적용될 수 있다. 본 자료 책자는 다양한 매체 유형에서의 자살 보도와 표현이 국가마다 다를 뿐만 아니라 한 국가 PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 114 자살 예방 문헌집 내에서도 다를 수 있다는 점을 인정하고 있다. 어떤 방식이 보도에 적합한지 또는 특정 자살의 정보 에 접근하는 방식에는 문화에 따라 차이가 있다. 본 책자는 여러 문화 간에 적용되는 안내 원칙을 제 공하기 위해 설계되었지만, 미디어 전문가는 지역의 자살 예방 공동체와 함께 활동하고, 가능하면 지 역의 언론 보도 지침을 참조토록 권장된다. 언론 보도 지역의 자살예방 전문가는 본 책자에 기여한 세계의 전문가 숫자로 증명된 바와 같이 세계 여러 곳에서 활동하고 있다. 이들은 자살 보도가 책임 감 있고 정확한 메시지를 전달하며, 취약한 사람에게 위험을 초래하지 않도록 미디어 전문가와 함께 할 준비가 되어있다. 일부 국가에서 자살 예방 지침은 언론의 행동수칙에 포함되어 있다. 본 책자는 인쇄, 방송 및 온라인 매체에 종사하는 미디어 전문가용으로 작성되었다. 대부분의 권고 사항은 모든 매체에 일반적으로 적용될 수 있지만 일부 권고 사항은 특히 인쇄 매체나 디지털 매체에 관련 되어있다. 디지털 매체용 고려사항에 대한 간략한 요약은 부록 1에 나와 있다. 웹사이트, 영화, TV 연속극, 연극 분야와 관련된 문제점의 취급은 본 책자 범위 밖이다. 관련 정보는 연예산업협회 (Entertainment Industry Council)의 자료를 참조하기 바란다(http://www.eiconline.org/). 총기 난 사(mass shootings)와 테러에 관한 보도는 부록 2에 나와 있다. 3. 언론이 자살 행위에 미치는 영향에 대한 구체적인 근거 보도는 자살 행위의 위험요인 모방 자살(자살 관련 언론 보도와 직접 연관된 것으로 보이는 자살)에 대해 100건 이상의 연구가 이 루어졌다. 이런 연구를 체계적으로 검토한 결과 동일한 결론이 일관성 있게 도출되었다. 즉, 자살 사건 에 대한 언론 보도는 후속의 추가적 자살 행위로 이어질 수 있다는 점이다. 또한, 모방 자살 행위는 특 정한 경우에 더 많이 발생할 수 있다는 결론에 도달하였다. 특히, 반복되는 보도, 충격이 크거나 세간의 이목을 끄는 기사가 모방 자살 행위와 가장 많이 연관되고 있다. 하나의 자살 사건 보도가 후속 자살에 미치는 영향은 기사에 나오는 사람이 유명인이며 독자나 시청자가 높이 평가하는 사람이라면 더욱 커진 다. 특히 특정 집단(청소년, 정신질환을 앓고 있는 사람, 과거에 자살을 시도한 사람, 자살로 사별을 당 한 사람)이 모방 자살 충동에 취약하다. 자살사망자의 성격이 어떤 면에서 독자나 시청자와 비슷하거나, 이들이 보도된 사람과 동일시하는 경우 위험이 가장 커진다. 또한, 기사 내용도 중요하게 작용하여 자 살과 관련된 근거 없는 믿음을 확인, 반복하는 기사나 특정의 자살 방식이 세부적으로 기술된 기사는 모방 자살과 연관될 가능성을 높여준다. 반면, 보도 지침에 따라 작성된 언론의 자살 보도는 자살 예방 을 도울 수 있는 잠재력이 크며 대개 후속 자살을 촉발하지는 않는다. 보도의 긍정적 영향 언론의 유해한 자살 보도에 대한 연구는 비교적 오랜 역사를 가지고 있는 한편, 지난 수년 동안 많 은 연구 결과가 책임 있는 언론의 자살 보도에 대해 집중적으로 입증해 왔다. 살아가면서 역경을 경 험하였음에도 자살 충동에 건설적으로 대처한 인물에 관한 언론 보도는 자살 행위 감소와의 연관성을 보여주었다. 언론의 영향에 관한 더 자세한 학술문헌의 개요는 부록 3을 참조 바란다. 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 115 4. 책임 있는 보도를 위한 지침 도움 받을 수 있는 기관에 관한 정보를 정확히 제공 도움이 될 자원에 대한 정보는 모든 자살 관련 기사의 말미에 제공해야 한다. 세부적 자료에는 자 살 예방 센터, 비상시 전화상담 서비스, 기타 보건/복지 전문가 및 자조 모임(self-help group)에 대 한 정보가 나타나야 한다. 도움을 요청할 수 있는 기관에 관한 정보에는 지역사회 내에서 서비스가 우수하다고 공인되어 있으며, 24시간 이용 가능한 서비스 기관이 포함돼야 한다. 이런 자료는 자살을 생각하는 사람이 접근할 수 있도록 준비해야 하며 목록에 있는 자원의 주소나 연락처는 정확성을 기 해 정기적으로 확인해야 한다. 하지만 가용 자원의 긴 목록은 오히려 비생산적이 될 수 있어서 제한 된 숫자의 자료(예컨대, 하나의 전화번호, 한 개의 웹사이트 등)만 제공해야 한다. 자살에 대한 근거 없는 믿음을 유포하지 않는 보도 방식 자살과 관련하여 잘못 알려진 관념이 많이 있다. 연구결과 언론 보도가 이러한 근거없는 믿음(myth) 을 반복하면 모방 자살을 유발할 가능성이 높아진다고 말하고 있다. 또한, 대중은 근거없는 믿음을 언론 의 “근거없는 믿음 대 사실”의 이분법적 구도로 인식하게 되는 것으로 알려져 있는데 자세한 내용은 부 록 4를 참고할 수 있다. 결과적으로 자살에 대해 근거없는 믿음이 아닌 사실을 제공하는 쪽으로 이끌어 가는 것이 바람직하다. 자살을 논하면서 사실을 세심하게 조사하는 것과는 별도로 자살 예방 방법을 보 도하고, 충동이 있는 사람은 도움을 청해야 한다는 메시지를 포함하고, 그러한 도움으로 접근하는 방법 을 표시하는 것이 항상 도움이 된다. 생활 스트레스 요인 및 자살 충동을 극복하고 도움을 받는 방법에 대한 기사를 보도할 것 역경과 자살 충동을 극복한 사람의 개인적인 이야기를 제공하는 것은 역경에 처한 다른 사람들이 비슷한 대처 전략을 활용하는데 도움이 된다. 극복할 수 없을 것으로 보이는 곤경에 처했을 때 도움 을 받는 방법을 설명하는 교육 자료를 포함시키는 기사도 권장된다. 이런 기사에는 보통 다른 사람이 그들의 자살 충동을 극복하면서 구사한 구체적 방법을 명시하고 자살 충동이 있을 때 도움을 받기 위 해 어떤 일을 해야 하는지를 강조해야 한다. 유명 인사의 자살 보도 시 유의할 것 유명인사의 자살은 뉴스의 가치가 있고 그런 사실의 보도는 공익에 부합하는 것으로 보통 이해되 고 있다. 하지만 이는 취약한 사람에게 모방 자살을 유도할 가능성이 있다. 유명인 자살은 본의 아니 게 자살 행위 자체를 미화하여 타인의 자살 행위를 촉발할 수 있다. 이런 이유로 유명 인사의 자살 보도 시에는 특히 조심해야 한다. 그런 보도에서 자살을 미화하거나 자살 방식을 구체적으로 설명해 서는 안 된다. 유명인의 인생, 사회공헌 사실, 이들의 죽음이 타인에 부정적으로 영향을 미친다는 점 을 집중적으로 조명하는 것이, 자세한 자살 행위의 보도 또는 자살 발생 원인에 대한 단순한 설명보 다 바람직하다. 또한, 사인이 즉시 알려지지 않았을 경우, 유명인의 죽음을 보도할 때 조심해야 한다. 언론의 자살 추측은 해로울 수 있어 사인이 알려질 때까지 기다리고 구체적 상황을 세심하게 조사하 는 것이 더 좋다. 위에서 말한 것처럼 보도에는 죽음으로 상처를 받거나 자살 충동을 일으킬 수 있는 PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 116 자살 예방 문헌집 사람에게 도움을 주는 기관이나 방법에 접근할 수 있는 정보가 나타나야 한다. 자살 유족 및 친구 면담 시 유의할 것 자살로 상실을 경험한 사람의 견해는 다른 사람에게 자살의 실상을 알려주는데 아주 훌륭한 자료 가 될 수 있다. 하지만 그런 정보를 얻어 자살 관련 언론 보도로 사용할 때 몇 가지 중요하게 고려해 야 할 점이 있다. 극심한 상실로 고민하고 위험 상황에 처해있을 지도 모르는 가족, 친구, 다른 사람 이 관련되었으면 조심해야 한다. 자살로 사별한 사람과의 인터뷰 결정은 절대로 경솔하게 이뤄지면 안 된다. 그들이 슬픔에 잠긴 과정에서 자살 또는 자해의 위험이 높아지기 때문이다. 극적인 기사를 쓰는 것보다 그들의 사생활을 존중하는 것이 먼저다. 일부 국가에서 언론인이 그런 인터뷰를 할 때 보도 지침이 적용되기도 한다. 미디어 전문가는 인터뷰 중에 증인이나 유족이 알지 못하는 자살이나 고인에 대한 정보를 접할 수 도 있다는 점을 알아야 한다. 그런 정보의 유출은 유족에게 해로울 수 있는 것이다. 기자는 인터뷰 중에 유족으로부터 받은 정보의 정확성을 조심스럽게 확인할 필요가 있다. 그들의 어떤 상황, 대화 또는 자살 행위의 회상은 비탄한 감정을 다시 일으킬 수도 있기 때문이다. 보도가 근래의 상실과 관련되는 것이 아닌 경우, 자살에서 오는 상실을 극복하여 언론에 기사를 제 공하려는 사람은 일반인에게 경각심을 높이고 유사한 상황에 대처하는 유효한 방식을 제시하는데 많 은 도움이 될 수 있다. 한편 실제 상실이 오래 전에 발생했더라도 과거의 자살 이야기를 하면 고통스 런 기억이나 감정이 유발될 수 있음을 인식하는 것이 중요하다. 자발적으로 언론 인터뷰에 응하는 유 족은 구체적인 개인정보가 대중에게 유포될 수 있다는 결과를 모를 수 있으므로 이런 점이 인터뷰 전 에 미리 협의돼야 하고 그들의 사생활을 보호하는 조치가 취해져야 한다. 가능하면 유족의 개인적인 기술 내용을 언론 보도 전에 유족과 상의하여 수정이나 변경이 가능하도록 하는 것이 좋다. 미디어 전문가 역시 자살 관련 기사에 영향을 받을 수 있음을 스스로 인지할 것 자살에 관한 기사를 준비하는 것은 미디어 전문가로 하여금 자신의 경험을 상기시키게 할 수 있다. 이러한 영향은 모든 자살 관련 기사에서 받을 수 있지만, 특히 미디어 전문가와 지역적 연대감이 강 한 소규모의, 긴밀한 지역사회 상황에서 더욱 두드러질 가능성이 있다. 언론기관은 미디어 전문가에게 필요한 지원(예: 디브리핑 혹은 멘토링 제도)을 마련해야 할 의무가 있다. 미디어 전문가 개개인은 어 쨌든 부정적으로 영향을 받은 경우 서슴지 말고 도움을 구해야 한다. 자살 기사를 부각시키지 말고 불필요한 중복기사는 피할 것 자살 기사에 대한 부각이나 불필요한 중복기사는 자살에 관해 자세히 보도하는 것 보다 후속 자살 행위를 야기할 가능성이 더 크다. 신문의 자살 관련 기사는 1면이나 안쪽 페이지의 상단보다는 안쪽 페이지의 하단 쪽으로 배치하는 것이 이상적이다. 이와 마찬가지로 자살에 대한 방송 보도는 TV 뉴스 의 두 세 번째에, 라디오의 경우 나중에, 또는 주요 기사 대신 온라인 기사로 취급해야 한다. 보도 반 복이나 원래 기사의 최근 정보 제공은 조심스럽게 다뤄져야 한다. 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 117 자살을 선정적으로 다루거나 보편화하지 말고, 건설적인 문제해결 방안으로 제시하지 말 것 자살을 선정적으로 다루는 언어는 피해야 한다. 예를 들어, “자살 유행”보다는 “자살률 증가”라는 제목이 훨씬 좋다. 자살 보도 시에, 자살은 공중보건 문제라는 메시지를 전하고 자살 예방에 대한 메 시지와 함께 위험요인을 찾는 것이 대중에게 자살 예방의 중요성을 교육할 때 도움이 될 수 있다. 대중에게 자살에 대한 잘못된 정보를 전달하거나 자살을 보편적인 것 혹은 매우 단순한 것으로 설 명하는 언어사용은 지양해야 한다. 물론 통계적으로 자살 경향에서 눈에 띄는 변화는 검증돼야 한다. 통계적으로 믿을 만한 증가나 감소라기보다는 일시적 변화를 나타낼 수 있기 때문이다. 또한, 예를 들어 “정치적 자살”과 같이 자살의 원래 의미에서 벗어나는 사용으로 대중은 그 심각성을 둔감하게 받아들일 수 있다. 죽음을 마치 바람직한 결과인 것처럼 보이게 하는 “자살실패”, “자살성공”과 같은 용어를 사용해서는 안 되며 대신 “비치명적 자살 행위”와 같은 용어가 좀 더 정확하고 오해의 소지가 적다. “자살했다(committed suicide)”는 말은 범죄임을 시사(일부 국가에서 자살은 범죄행위에 해당) 하고 유족의 오명을 불필요하게 부각시킬 수 있음으로 “자살로 사망(died by suicide)” 또는 “죽었다 (took own life)”로 표현하는 것이 좋다. 자살 방법을 구체적으로 명시하지 않도록 유의할 것 사용된 방법에 대한 자세한 설명이나 논의는 취약한 사람이 이를 모방할 가능성이 높아짐으로 피 해야 한다. 예컨대 약물 과다복용 보도 시에 약물의 상표명, 명칭, 특성, 수량, 함께 사용된 약물 또 는 취득 방법을 자세히 설명하는 것은 해로울 수 있다. 또한, 자살 방법이 희귀하고 새로운 경우에는 조심해야 한다. 특이한 방법으로 죽었다는 보도로 뉴 스 가치는 높아질 수 있지만, 사용 방법에 대한 보도로 다른 사람이 이 방법을 사용할 수 있게 한다. 새로운 방식은 선정적인 언론 보도로 쉽게 퍼지고 소셜 미디어로 파급력이 더욱 높아진다. 자살 현장/장소를 구체적으로 명시하지 않도록 유의할 것 때에 따라 한 장소가, 예를 들어 자살이 발생한 다리, 높은 건물, 절벽, 기차역 또는 교차로 등이 “자살 장소”로 유명해 질 수 있다. 보도 시에 선정적 언어 사용 또는 같은 장소에 발생한 자살 사건 의 숫자 등을 내세우는 등 결과적으로 자살 장소로 선전하지 않도록 미디어 전문가는 특히 조심해야 한다. 이와 마찬가지로 교육시설이나, 취약한 사람이 수용되어있는 기관(교도소, 정신병동, 병원)에서 의 자살, 자살시도 보도에도 조심해야 한다. 선정적인 표제 사용을 자제할 것 머리기사는 전체 내용의 요점을 가능한 한 몇 마디로 나타내어 독자의 관심을 끌 수 있다. “자살” 이라는 말은 머리기사로 사용하지 말아야 하며 자살 방법이나 장소의 구체적인 명시도 피해야 한다. 머리기사가 본문을 쓰는 사람이 아닌 다른 미디어 전문가가 만든 경우, 본문 작성자는 적절한 머리기 사가 선택되도록 머리기사 작성자와 함께 협의해야 한다. PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 118 자살 예방 문헌집 사진, 비디오 장면, 소셜 미디어 링크의 첨부를 자제할 것 자살 장면에 관한 사진, 비디오 장면, 소셜 미디어 링크는 특히 자살 장소나 방법을 구체적으로 언 급할 때 사용하지 말아야 한다. 또한, 자살사망자의 사진 게재 시에 각별한 주의가 필요하다. 이미지 사용 시에는 유족으로부터 명백한 허락을 받아야 한다. 이런 이미지는 눈에 띄는 곳에 배치되어서는 안 되며 그러한 개인이나 자살 행위가 미화되어서는 안 된다. 연구결과에 따르면 자살 행위와 관련된 사진은 취약한 독자로 하여금 추후 개인적인 위기 상황에서 해당 장면이 활성화 될 소지가 있으며, 자살 행위를 유발할 수 있다. 본문과 사진 편집의 조정 작업이 권장된다. 종종 본문을 담당하는 사람 이 이미지 담당자와는 다를 수 있기 때문이다. 죽은 사람의 유서, 마지막 문자 메시지, 이메일 등은 보도하지 말아야 한다. 5. 믿을만한 정보의 출처 미디어 전문가가 자살을 보도할 때에는 믿을만한 자살 통계와 기타 정보의 출처를 사용해야 한다. 여러 나라의 정부 통계기관은 대개 연령/성별 연간 자살률에 관한 자료를 제공하고 있다. 세계보건기 구의 회원국은 자살을 포함 사망 자료를 세계보건기구에 보고하고 있다(http://www.who.int/healthi nfo/mortality_data/en/). 자료와 통계는 세심하고 정확히 해석돼야 한다.1) 미디어 전문가는 자살에 대한 기사 작성 시 지역의 자살예방 전문가로부터 자문을 구해야 한다. 이 들은 자살 관련 자료 해석을 도와주고, 자살 보도 시 모방 자살의 위험 증가를 피하고 자살 행위에 대한 근거 없는 믿음이 포함된 경우 이를 걸러낼 수 있다. 또한, 자살 고위험군에게 도움이 될 만한 유용한 정보를 제공해 줄 것이다. 국가 또는 지역의 자살예방 조직은 보통 언론기관용으로 상세한 연락처를 가지고 있으며 많은 나 라에서 협회가 자살에 대한 정보를 제공하고 있다. 일부 협회는 또한 자살 예방 기구의 역할을 하며, 자살 충동을 경험하거나 자살로 유족이 된 사람을 지원하고, 자살 관련 지원 및 연구를 지원한다. 국 제자살예방협회(IASP)는 이런 서비스를 대표하는 국제기관으로, 홈페이지(https://www.iasp.info)에 는 자살 관련 기사를 작성하는 미디어 전문가용으로 유용한 배경 정보가 나와 있다. 여기에는 자살 예방 서비스 기관의 목록, 몇 개 나라의 자살 보도 언론 지침이 포함되어 있다. 주요 전문가, 자살 예 방 서비스 및 공중 보건 기관에서도 자살 보도에 대한 권고 사항을 개발하여 여러 언어로 게재하고 있다(http://www.reportingonsuicide.org). 1) 세계의 자살률을 비교할 때에는 주의가 필요한데, 이는 나라마다 사망률을 확인하고 자살로 기록하는 방식에 영향을 줄 수 있는 법규와 절차가 서로 다르기 때문이다. 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 119 부록 1. 디지털 매체에 대한 고려사항 최근 사람들은 과거보다 정보를 훨씬 광범위한 출처에서 얻고 있으며 전통적 매체와 온라인 매체 간에 중복이 더 많아지고 있다. 인터넷이 특히 청소년과 자살 위험이 높은 사람들에게 정보와 소통의 주요 수단이 되었다. 이 책자는 전통적 매체와 디지털 매체 모두에서의 언론 보도용으로 사용할 수 있다. 하지만 디지털 매체에서의 자살 보도와 온라인의 자살 내용 관리에는 더 많은 문제가 있는 것 또한 사실이다. 최근 이런 문제를 다루기 위해 구체적인 지침이 작성된 바 있다. 소셜 미디어에서는 자살 자료의 하이퍼링크를 피하는 것이 중요하다. 비디오, 오디오 자료(비상 호 출 통화 내용 등) 또는 자살 현장의 소셜 미디어 링크는, 특히 자살 장소나 방법이 분명히 나오는 경 우 사용하면 안 된다. 또한, 자살사망자의 사진을 사용하는 경우 특히 조심해야 한다. 검색 엔진에서 는 특히 머리기사 작성 시 유해한 문구를 사용하는 것에 관해 민감한 태도를 견지할 필요(머리기사 제목으로 검색이 되기 때문)가 있다. 전통적 매체에서와 같이, 자살관련 자료를 과장하거나 선정적으 로 표현하는 것을 방지하기 위해 자료 시각화는 세심하게 살펴봐야 한다. 디지털 매체(예: 온라인 신 문, 종이 신문의 홈페이지)의 논평란에서 잠재적으로 자살에 관한 내용을 다루고 이에 시기적절한 대 응을 하는 것에 대하여 미디어 플랫폼 관리자는 적합한 정책을 수립해야 한다. 온라인 기술과 관련 일련의 모범 사례가 온라인 표현 방식의 소/중/대규모 조직과 기업에 도움이 되도록 개발되었다(http://www.preventtheattempt.com). 기본, 중간, 고급 수준의 권고사항이 제시 되어 있다. 기본 권고사항에는 지원 센터의 자원 정보 및 자살 예방 관련 자주 묻는 질문(FAQ) 제공, 자살 충동을 가진 이용자 대응 방법에 대한 정책, 법 집행 관련 규제, 자살 콘텐츠에 적시 대응, 자살 충동을 가진 사람을 찾아보는 정보 등이 포함된다. 다른 권고사항은 Suicide Awareness Voices of Education: SAVE가 블로거용으로 개발한 것으 로, 전통적 매체용 지침 내용을 바탕으로 블로그에서 자주 발생하는 안전 우려사항 및 대응법을 강조 하고 있다. PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 120 자살 예방 문헌집 부록 2. 총기 난사 및 테러 보도 총기 난사(mass shootings)와 테러 관련 언론 보도가 모방 자살에 주는 영향에 대한 연구는 일반 적 자살 관련 언론 보도가 모방 자살에 주는 영향에 대한 연구보다 광범위하지 않다. 하지만 살인에 대한 선정적 보도로 살인 행위가 더욱 촉발된다는 증거가 일부 있다. 이런 사건은 보통 언론의 관심 을 끌고 이러한 사건 이후에 가해자가 자해나 자살하는 일이 수반될 수도, 아닐 수도 있다. 만약 가 해자의 자살이 수반되는 경우, 자살 공격이나 자살 폭탄 테러라고 표현하면 안 된다. 왜냐하면 이런 보도로 자살 행위가 더욱 부정적으로 부각되기 때문이다. 그런 사건은 그 행위의 목표가 타인 살해이 고 가해자의 일부만 자살하기 때문에 “살해 폭탄 사건”이나 “집단 살해(mass killings)”로 불리는 것이 더 적절하다. 이런 살인 사건의 보도 시에는 가해자가 자살 충동이나 정신질환을 갖고 있는 것이 아 니라는 점이 중요하다. 총기 난사는 대부분 정신질환으로 진단받은 사람이 저지르는 것이 아니다. Sui cide Awareness Voices of Education: SAVE가 주도하는 국제 전문가 팀은 가해자에 대한 언론의 관심 축소 등과 같이 총기 난사 사건에 대한 보도용 권고사항(https://www.reportingonmassshooti ngs.org)을 작성한 바 있다. 언론이 선정적으로 보도하면 다른 사람이 가해자와 일체감을 느끼고 유 사한 행동을 취할 수 있기 때문이다. 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 121 부록 3. 언론의 영향에 대한 구체적인 학술 문헌의 개요 언론의 해로운 영향 언론이 자살 행위에 미치는 영향에 관한 초기 증거는 18세기 괴테가 “젊은 베르테르의 슬픔”이라 는 소설을 내놓았을 때 나타나고 있다. 이 소설에서 베르테르는 한 여인과 이룰 수 없는 사랑에 대해 비관하여 자살한다. 이 소설 출간 이후 유럽 전역에서 자살 소동이 벌어졌다. 자살한 사람의 많은 수 가 베르테르와 비슷한 패션의 옷을 입고 그 책을 가지고 죽었던 것이다. 그래서 몇몇 나라에서 이 책 이 금지되기도 했다. 자살 보도나 묘사로 발생하는 모방 자살 행위에 대한 근거는 1970년대까지 밝혀지지 않았는데, 이 때 Phillips[1]는 후향적으로 미국 언론에서 자살이 신문의 일면 기사로 게재되었던 월(月)과 그렇지 않 았던 월(月)의 자살 사망 수를 비교하였다. 20년 기간을 통해 33개월 동안 1면 기사로 자살이 보도 되었고 33개월 중 26개월 동안 자살 숫자는 상당히 증가하였다. Schmidtke와 Häfner[2]도 TV 시리 즈 방송 후 모방 효과를 확인하였다. Phillips 이래 100건 이상의 다른 모방 자살 연구가 시행되었으며, 총체적으로 이들은 여러 방식으 로 많은 증거를 제시했다. 첫째, 이들 연구에는 개선된 방법론이 사용되었다. 예를 들어, Wasserman[3]과 Stack[4]은 Phillip의 기존 연구 결과를 반복 검증하였고 보다 복잡한 시계열 회귀분 석 기술을 활용하여 관찰 기간을 확대하였으며 자살에 대한 절대적 수치가 아닌 상대적 비율을 제시 하였다. 둘째, 이들 연구에서 다른 매체를 조사했다. 예컨대, Bollen, Phillips[5], Stack[6]은 미국의 TV 뉴스에서 전국적으로 방영된 자살 기사의 효과를 조사하여 방송 이후 상당한 자살률 증가를 보고했 다. 초기 연구 대부분은 미국에서 자살만을 주제로 행해졌지만, 이후의 연구는 아시아와 유럽 국가로 확대되어 자살시도에 대해 집중적으로 이루어졌다. 예를 들어 Cheng 등[7,8], Yip 등[9]과 Chen 등[10] 은 중국(대만과 홍콩)과 한국에서 유명인의 자살 뉴스 방영 이후 자살과 자살시도의 증가를 증명하였 다. Etzersdorfer, Voracek, Sonneck[11]의 연구도 오스트리아의 제일 큰 신문사에서 유명인의 자살 을 보도한 후 신문 배급이 제일 많은 지역에서 자살 증가가 더 두드러지는 경향과 함께 비슷한 결과 를 보고했다. 더욱 최근의 연구에서 언론의 영향 분석 전에 언론 보도 내용의 특성을 분석했다. 이를 반영하여 Prikis와 동료들은 보도 내용의 차이를 바탕으로 언론 보도의 유형을 구분하였다[12]. 자살 방 법 보도와 자살에 대한 대중의 잘못된 인식을 강조하여 반복하면 후속 자살이 늘어나는 결과를 보여 주었다. 주목할 만하게, Gould와 동료들은 신문의 기사가 더 두드러질 경우(1면 배치나 사진 포함), 더욱 명시적(머리기사에 ‘자살”이라는 말을 포함하거나 자살 방법의 명시)이며 구체적(고인의 이름, 자 살 방법이나 유서 발견 등)일 경우, 자살시도보다 자살에 대한 보도가 이루어질 경우 청소년의 모방 자살은 더 가능성이 많아진다고 보고했다[13]. 언론과 자살 분야의 연구를 체계적으로 검토하면 항상 같은 결론에 도달한다. 즉, 자살에 대한 언 론 보도는 후에 자살 행위의 증가로 이어진다는 것이다[14-17]. 자살 행위의 증가 가능성은 뉴스 보도 후에 시간이 경과하면서 함께 변하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 즉, 3일 이내에 보통 최고점에 달하고 약 2주 일 후에는 안정되지만[5,18], 때로는 그 이상 지속되기도 한다[19]. 이런 증가는 보도의 양과 강도와 관 PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 122 자살 예방 문헌집 련되며, 보도의 반복, 고강도 기사가 모방 행위와 가장 많이 관련되고 있는 것이다[10,11,20-22]. 이런 행 위는 기사에 나오는 사람과 독자나 시청자가 동질감을 느끼거나[22,23], 유명인으로 이들이 높게 평가하 는 사람인 경우 더욱 두드러지게 나타난다[3,4,7,9,22,24]. 연예계 스타의 자살에 대한 선정적 보도는 후속 자살이 최고 증가로 이어지는 것으로 나타난다[25]. 여러 연구의 종합적인 결론은 유명인의 자살에 대 한 선정적 언론 보도 이후 한 달 동안 자살률의 평균 증가분이 10만명당 0.26명이라는 사실이다. 하 지만 연예인의 자살 보도에 의한 추정 효과는 더 커진다(10만명당 0.64명)[25]. 언론이 미치는 영향은 또한 대중의 성향에 따라 달라진다. 인구 분포 중 특정 집단(청소년, 우울증을 앓고 있는 사람, 고인 과 동일시하기 쉬운 사람)이 특히 취약하며 이들의 자살 충동이나 모방 자살 행위의 가능성이 높아진 다[18,26-29]. 또한, 특이한 방식에 의한 자살의 명시적 묘사는 동일 방식을 사용하는 자살 행위의 증가 로 흔히 나타난다[10,30-33]. 언론의 예방적 영향 언론이 긍정적 영향력을 행사할 수 있는 가능성에 대해 일부 증거도 있다. 언론의 자살에 대한 모 범적 보도가 자살률과 그 시도율의 감소로 이어질 수 있는지의 여부에 대한 연구에서 그 증거가 제시 되었다. Etzersdorfer와 동료들은 비엔나 지하철 자살 보도에 대한 언론 지침의 도입으로 여기에서의 자살에 대한 선정적 보도가 줄고 또한 지하철 자살률의 75% 감소 및 비엔나 지역 전체 자살의 2 0% 감소라는 결과가 나타났다[34-36]. 이 지침을 지속적으로 배부하여 자살 보도의 품격을 높이고 오 스트리아의 전국 자살률이 감소하는 결과가 나타났으며 긍정적 영향은 언론과 협력이 잘 되는 지역에 두드러졌다[37]. 호주, 중국, 홍콩, 독일, 스위스의 연구도 언론의 지침은 자살 보도의 품질과 긍정적으 로 관련된다고 말하고 있다. 하지만 언론 지침의 효과성은 이행의 성공 여부에 달려있다[38-39]. 호주(h ttp://www.mindframe-media.info), 오스트리아(http://www.suizidforschung.at), 중국, 홍콩(http:// www.csrp.hku.hk/media/), 스위스(http://www.stopsuicide.ch), 영국(http://www.samaritans.org/ media-centre/), 미국(http://www.reportingonsuicide.org) 등 몇몇 나라의 경험은 언론 지침 이행에 통찰력을 제공하여 다른 나라에 유익한 정보가 될 수 있다. 일부 언론 보도의 자살 예방 효과에 대한 추가적 증거는 Niederkrotenthaler와 동료들이 제시하고 있다. 이들은 긍정적 대응, 위험 극복에 초점을 맞추는 특출한 기사는 언론 보도가 가장 많이 도달하 는 지역의 자살률의 감소와 연관된다고 밝혔다[21]. 이런 언론의 예방효과는 모차르트의 오페라 마술피 리의 등장인물에서 이름을 빌어 “파파게노 효과”라고 하는데 그는 자살 충동을 느끼지만 마음을 바꾸 어 삶의 길을 택한다. 파파게노 효과에 대한 최초의 연구 이래 다른 연구에서도 건설적 대응을 내세 우면서 자살 예방에 정보를 제공하는 언론 자료의 예방적 효과를 확인시켜주었다[28,38,40]. 전체적으로 언론과 자살의 관계를 검토하면 언론이 자살 예방에 주는 순기능과 역기능에 대한 연 구가 모두 있었지만, 지금까지 연구는 대부분 역기능에 중점을 두어왔다[17]. 디지털 매체 아직까지 온라인의 자살 관련 기사의 영향에 대한 연구에서는 아주 일부만 보호적 영향, 유해한 영 향 모두 있다고 밝히고 있다. 온라인 사이트는 쉽게 접근할 수 있고 청소년이 많이 사용하기 때문에, 디지털 매체는 자살 관련 도움이 필요한 사람에게 귀중한 자원이 되는 것으로 간주된다. 자살 위험이 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 123 있는 사람들은 소셜 미디어 사용 시 소외감을 덜 느낀다고 흔히 보고되며, 또한 온라인 활동으로 자 살할 생각이 줄어들었다고 보고되기도 한다. 이런 긍정적인 상황은 게시물이 건설적인 도움을 제공하 고 자살 행위의 정당화나 용납을 적극 피하는 웹사이트나 게시판에서의 활동에 해당한다. 하지만 자살 행위의 정당화, 자살과 방법 관련 이미지에의 쉬운 접근, 집단 괴롭힘(bullying)/희롱 에 사용되는 대화 채널의 운영 등은 디지털 매체의 주요 우려사항이라 하겠다[41,42]. 또한, 자살을 옹 호하는 사이트가 있어 다른 자살 방법의 특징을 설명하고, 자살 행위를 권장하거나 동반자살자를 모 집하고 있다. 점점 더 많은 숫자의 사례연구를 통해 온라인 사이트가 자살 방법을 배우고 취약한 사 람의 자살 행위를 부추기는 도구로 사용될 수 있다고 밝혀지고 있다. 결론 자살에 대한 선정적 언론 보도는 후속적 추가 자살 행위(자살, 자살시도)로 이어질 수 있다는 주장 이 강하게 옹호되고 있다. 선정적 보도에 따른 자살 사건 증가는 어쨌든 일어날 일이 더 일찍 일어난 것이기도 하고(이런 경우, 이후에는 자살률이 감소할 것이다), 부적절한 언론 보도가 없었다면 발생하 지 않았을 추가적 자살로 볼 수도 있다. 자살 관련 책임 있는 언론 보도의 잠재적 예방 효과에 대한 연구는 아주 최근에 시작된 것으로 이 런 보도의 장점에 대한 증거는 점차 늘어나고 있다. 미디어 전문가는 대중의 “알 권리”와 자살의 유해성 간에 균형을 잡아, 자살 보도에 조심스럽게 대 처해야 할 것이다. PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 124 자살 예방 문헌집 참 고 문 헌 1. Phillips DP. The influence of suggestion on suicide: substantive and theoretical implications of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1974;39(3):340-54. 2. Schmidtke A, Hafner H. The Werther effect after television films: new evidence for an old hypothesis. Psychol Med. 1988;18(3):665-76. 3. Wasserman IM. Imitation and suicide: a re-examination of the Werther effect. Am Sociol Rev. 1984;49(3):427-36. 4. Stack S. A reanalysis of the impact of non-celebrity suicides: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1990;25(5):269-73. 5. Bollen KA, Phillips DP. Imitative suicides: a national study of the effects of television news stories. Am Sociol Rev. 1982;47(6):802-9. 6. Stack S. The effect of publicized mass murders and murder-suicides on lethal violence, 1968-1980: a research note. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1989;24(4):202-8. 7. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Lee CTC, Chen THH. The influence of media reporting of the suicide of a celebrity on suicide rates: a population-based study. Int J Epidemiol. 2007;36(6):1229-34. 8. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chen CY, Chen LC, et al. The influence of media coverage of a celebrity suicide on subsequent suicide attempts. J Clin Psychiatry. 2007;68(6):862-6. 9. Yip PSF, Fu KW, Yang KCT, Ip BYT, Chan CLW, Chen EYH et al. The effects of a celebrity suicide on suicide rates in Hong Kong. J Affect Disord. 2006;93(1-3):245-52. 10. Chen YY, Yip PS, Chan CH, Fu KW, Chang SS, Lee WJ et al. The impact of a celebrity's suicide on the introduction and establishment of a new method of suicide in South Korea. Arch Suicide Res. 2014;18(2):221-6. 11. Etzersdorfer E, Voracek M, Sonneck G. A dose-response relationship of imitational suicides with newspaper distribution. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001;35(2):251. 12. Pirkis JE, Burgess PM, Francis C, Blood RW, Jolley DJ. The relationship between media reporting of suicide and actual suicide in Australia. Soc Sci Med. 2006;62:2874–86. 13. Gould M., Kleinman MH, Lake AM, Forman J, Basset Midle J. Newspaper coverage of suicide and initiation of suicide clusters in teenagers in the USA, 1988-96: a retrospective, population-based, case-control study. Lancet Psychiatry. 2014;1(1): 34-43. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70225-1. 14. Pirkis J, Blood RW. Suicide and the media: (1) Reportage in non-fictional media. Crisis. 2001;22(4):146-54. 15. Stack S. Media impacts on suicide: a quantitative review of 293 findings. Soc Sci Q. 2000;81(4):957-72. 미디어 전문가를 위한 자살 예방 지침 자살 예방 문헌집 125 16. Stack S. Suicide in the media: a quantitative review of studies based on non-fictional stories. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2005;35(2):121-33. 17. Sisask M, Varnik A. Media roles in suicide prevention: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2012;9(1):123-38. 18. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide. N Engl J Med. 1986;315(11):685-9. 19. Fu KW, Yip PSF. Long-term impact of celebrity suicide on suicidal ideation: Results from a population-based study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2007;61(6):540-6. 20. Hassan R. Effects of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia: a research note. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1995;29(3):480-3. 21. Niederkrotenthaler T, Voracek M, Herberth A, Till B, Strauss M, Etzersdorfer E et al. Role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide – Werther v. Papageno effects. Br J Psychiatry. 2010;197:234–43. 22. Niederkrotenthaler T, Till B, Voracek M, Dervic K, Kapusta ND, Sonneck G. Copycat-effects after media reports on suicide: a population-based ecologic study. Soc Sci Med. 2009;69:1085–90. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckp034. 23. Stack S. Audience receptiveness, the media, and aged suicide, 1968-1980. J Aging Stud. 1990;4(2):195-209. 24. Stack S. Celebrities and suicide: a taxonomy and analysis. Am Sociol Rev. 1987;52 (3):401-12. 25. Niederkrotenthaler T, Fu KW, Yip P, Fong DYT, Stack S, Cheng Q, et al. Changes in suicide rates following media reports on celebrity suicides: a meta-analysis. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012;66:1037–42. 26. Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Chen THH, Yen AMF, Chang JC, Chong MY et al. The influence of media reporting of a celebrity suicide on suicidal behaviour in patients with a history of depressive disorder. J Affect Disord. 2007;103:69-75. 27. Phillips DP, Carstensen LL. The effect of suicide stories on various demographic groups, 1968-1985. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1988;18(1):100-14. 28. Till B, Strauss M, Sonneck G, Niederkrotenthaler T. Determining the effects of films with suicidal content: a laboratory experiment. Br J Psychiatry. 2015;207(1):72-8. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.114.152827. 29. Scherr S, Reinemann C. Belief in a Werther effect: third-person effects in the perceptions of suicide risk for others and the moderating role of depression. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2011;41(6):624–34. 30. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning: a current epidemic. BMJ. 1979;2(6193):769-70. PREVENTING SUICIDE: A RESOURCE FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS 126 자살 예방 문헌집 31. Ashton JR, Donnan S. Suicide by burning as an epidemic phenomenon: an analysis of 82 deaths and inquests in England and Wales in 1978-79. Psychol Med. 1981;11(4):735-9. 32. Veysey MJ, Kamanyire R, Volans GN. Antifreeze poisonings give more insight into copycat behaviour. BMJ. 1999;319(7217):1131. 33. Hawton K, Simkin S, Deeks J, O'Connor S, Keen A, Altman DG et al. Effects of a drug overdose in a television drama on presentations to hospital for self-poisoning: time series and questionnaire study. BMJ. 1996;318(7189):972-7. 34. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G. Preventing suicide by influencing mass- media reporting: the Viennese experience 1980-1996. Arch Suicide Res. 1998;4(1):64-74. 35. Etzersdorfer E, Sonneck G, Nagel Kuess S. Newspaper reports and suicide. N Engl J Med. 1992;327(7):502-3. 36. Sonneck G, Etzersdorfer E, Nagel Kuess S. Imitative suicide on the Viennese subway. Soc Sci Med. 1994;38(3):453-7. 37. Niederkrotenthaler T, Sonneck G. Assessing the impact of media guidelines for reporting on suicides in Austria: interrupted time series analysis. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2007;41(5):419-28. 38. Stack S, Niederkrotenthaler T, editors. Media and suicide: international perspectives on research, theory &