Best Practices for Reporting on Suicide

Mental health is still something that society has a long way to go to understanding. One of the products of poor mental health—suicide—is especially tragic and difficult to approach from an objective point of view. And what’s more: The risk of contagion in terms of others deciding to die by suicide after they’ve heard about another successfully doing so is absolutely astronomical. Studies show that vulnerable people who read about suicide may go on to commit it themselves. 

However, the media has a duty to report the truth, so what are we to do when faced with this moral and ethical dilemma on how to factually recount this tragedy?

Here are some important things to remember.

THERE IS NO NEED FOR SPECIFICS

The death was a death by suicide, and should be reported as such: locations, methodology, and any contributing factors to the suicide should not be combed over in detail. For example, the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why faced severe criticism from mental health professionals over their detailed depiction of a character’s suicide, resulting in the footage being removed from the series over three years after its initial release. Journalists should avoid detailing the nature of the suicide itself. 

WATCH OUT FOR GLAMORIZING LANGUAGE

Suicide is not an escape or a solution: suicide is death. Reporting on an incident with an empathetic eye is a good thing, but it is not always a good thing to rationalize, glamorize, or otherwise justify the subject’s death by suicide by providing the reasons it happened. Moreover, don’t detail how “fast” or “slow” the death was and avoid terms like “suicide epidemic,” as this could result in contagion.

DO NOT INCLUDE THE DECEASED’S PERSONAL POSTS OR INFORMATION

In the age of social media, we have a lot of access to people and their thought processes—sometimes even after they pass away.

But this is not a good thing to display to the public at large. Private matters of the deceased may paint them again in a glamorized light; speculating on their state of mind also minimizes the struggle of people working against their own mental health. 

KEEP LOCATIONS VAGUE

There is no reason to tag a spot in your reporting as a “notorious” spot for suicide or anything of the kind. If that location is known for that reason, it’s likely already known in the minds of the community, who don’t need reminding of the horrors of that location. Also refrain from providing specific information like the heights of high areas, or the amount of time that this particular method of suicide probably took.

KEEP MEDIA RESPECTFUL

Avoid dramatic video and audio alongside your story: this can cause your audience to over-identify with the deceased. Don’t link to other pieces about suicide. Don’t post content from the suicide note if there was one, or private sentiments made by family and friends about the deceased. 

PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING

There are several ways for people struggling with their mental health and/or suicidal thoughts to obtain help from trained professionals, including a public hotline (988) that will contact authorities, as well as several other resources such as a text line and links to find help for stressors that could be contributing to poor mental health.
Young people are especially susceptible to suicide and suicide contagion. The statistics on how many people under the age of 18 commit suicide are shocking and saddening. Therefore, our practices for reporting on youth suicide must be ironclad, and that reporting must extend into coverage of adult suicide. The last thing journalists want (or need) is to contribute to the pain of society, especially when we have the tools to help readily available.