Reporting of Suicide and Mental Illness

The Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, will launch Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness, a resource kit for media professionals at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday 22 August 2002 at 10:00 am.

According to the material provided by the group put together by the department of health to develop the resource kit, most media report suicide and mental illness responsibly, and the media industry has been actively involved in helping to reduce suicide rates and address the stigma associated with mental illness. However, recent research on the reporting of suicide and mental illness shows there is still progress to be made.

Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness provides practical advice and information to support the work of media professionals. The resource includes current contacts, research sources, facts and statistics, and suggestions about issues to consider when reporting suicide and mental illness.

Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness was developed with the assistance of media professionals, suicide and mental health experts, and consumer organisations. It is the result of an evaluation of the first edition produced in 1999. It incorporates findings from the most recent Australian and overseas research and was tested with a wide range of journalists and other media professionals working in print and broadcasting.

Recent, reliable Australian research shows that reporting of suicide can have an impact on vulnerable people. The way in which suicide is reported appears to be particularly significant. In some cases, reporting of suicide has been linked to increased rates of actual suicide.

But there is also evidence that the way suicide is reported can reduce suicide rates. Reporting which positions suicide as a tragic waste and an avoidable loss, and which focuses on the devastating impact of the act on others, has been linked to reduced rates of suicide. For example, a 1997 Australian study of reporting of Kurt Cobain's suicide in a range of media found that rates of suicide among 15 - 24 year olds fell during the month following reporting of his death. Significantly, media coverage of Cobain's death was highly critical of his decision to suicide.

Mental illness

According to international research, mental illness tends to be portrayed negatively in the mass media in both news and entertainment media. This is supported by Australian studies. However recent Australian research suggests reporting may be improving. Negative reporting of mental illness appears to influence community attitudes. Participants in many of the studies surveyed considered the media to have an impact on their attitudes towards mental health and illness. Those who cited the media as the most important source of their information and beliefs tended to have more negative attitudes towards mental illness. The presentation of negative and stereotyped images of mental illness in both fiction and non-fiction media results in the development of more negative beliefs about mental illness. The presentation of positive images does not appear to balance negative media portrayals.

More detail on the impact of media reporting is available in Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness, or on the website www.mindframe-media.info.

For detail on the Council's position on reporting of suicide:
GPR 246

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