Quality of newspaper reporting of suicidal behavior in Maharashtra, India
Journal of Public Mental Health
ISSN: 1746-5729
Article publication date: 7 May 2021
Issue publication date: 26 November 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the adherence of media reports of suicide published in vernacular language newspapers against the World Health Organization guidelines.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors performed a content analysis of all suicide-related news reports published in the seven most widely circulated vernacular newspapers of Maharashtra. News reports published from April 2020 to May 2020 were included.
Findings
Among the 355 retrieved suicide reports, 39.2% reports were placed at a prominent position of the newspaper, 92.8% mentioned the name of a person, 93.8% mentioned the method of suicide, while 56.0% reported monocausal explanations for suicide. In contrast, 20.8% of news reports acknowledged a link with mental health disorders, while 0.3% news reports provided information about suicide prevention programs, and 0.8% mentioned suicide-related statistics.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to report content analysis of suicide reports from Maharashtra state, which is one of the most developed states in India and has high rates of youth and farmer suicides.
Keywords
Citation
Ransing, R., Kar, S.K., Menon, V., Mhamunkar, A., Patil, I. and Arafat, S.M.Y. (2021), "Quality of newspaper reporting of suicidal behavior in Maharashtra, India", Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 259-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPMH-08-2020-0108
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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