Is Indian media complying with suicide reporting guidelines? Study shows language used by many newspapers problematic

According to the Centre for Suicide Prevention, there have been other studies that have too noted this correlation between sensational portrayals of suicide by the media versus the risk of attempted suicide and suicide rates. Media reporting on suicide can cause a 1 to 2% variance in suicides “In the age of rage bait and juicing TRPs for viewership, journalists have thrown every rule book out just for numbers. ‘Aim to help media reflect on their reporting’ Dr Soumitra Pathare, director of the Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy in Pune, who heads Project SIREN, told Firstpost that the purpose of the study was not to “name and shame” the media, but rather to point “a mirror” at them to reflect on their reporting. When asked if the study was specifically born out of a need to study the number of deaths due to suicide during the lockdown, Pathare said that it “wasn’t the case here.” The study was initiated as a tool for suicide prevention and to track reports of suicide attempts and deaths by suicide to encourage “greater uptake of good reporting practices across media platforms.“ Project SIREN, which studied 107 newspaper editions across 90 days, plans to keep updating this scoreboard in a way of keeping tabs on reportage of suicides in newspapers, Pathare said. Goswami notes that in the case of celebrity suicides, “Language that is respectful and memorialises the life of the deceased rather than picking apart every detail around their death can have a salutary effect on the public mood.” A grey area One of the WHO guidelines notes that suicide reportage should not be given prominence, which is problematic in the Indian context.