Intervention - (Newsroom) Reaction - Prevention? Effects of Media Guidelines for Responsible Suicide Reporting on the Media Coverage of Suicides in German Newspapers
Final Report Abstract
Suicide is a global health problem, with over 703,000 deaths per year – including over 9,200 in Germany alone –, making suicide prevention a concern for society as a whole. In addition to numerous internal and external factors that can influence individual suicidality, the media can play a significant role: Research shows that a sensational portrayal of suicide in the media can result in an increase in suicide rate in the vulnerable population. This phenomenon is called Werther effect. However, recent findings show that media portrayals of suicide can also have positive, namely potentially suicide-preventive, effects if the topic is presented with appropriate sensitivity. In the literature, this media effect is known as Papageno effect. Next to relevant predispositions of the recipients, how suicide is presented in the media is essential for eliciting either the Werther or the Papageno effect. Guidelines on how to best report on suicide have been developed. In this context, journalists (next to other media professionals) have a crucial role to play, as they are the ones who actively shape the portrayal of suicide in the media. Training journalists to deal with the topic of suicide as sensitively and responsibly as possible is therefore a core aspect of media-supported suicide prevention. Thus, within the scope of this DFG-funded project, journalists were to be trained in responsible suicide reporting by means of a web-based intervention including a short video and a textbased handout that promoted helpful mechanisms, guidelines as well as best practice examples. Both materials were embedded in a survey. This was done in a two-stage process, in which journalists of different editorial offices received the corresponding materials at two different points in time. The objective was to improve suicide reporting in line with the respective guidelines, which leads to the research question of whether the training has an influence on the suicide reporting of the participating journalists. This was empirically tested by means of a quantitative content analysis (n = 4015 articles). The reporting was compared before and after the training as wells as with the reporting of a control group of editorial offices (resp. journalists). A significant difference was found as trained journalists tended to more often include information on help offers into their suicide reporting; This inormation is known to be potentially beneficial in terms of the Papageno effect. Following existing literature on the Werther and Papageno effect, the development of the suicide rate in the population (related in time to the period of this study), was additonally surveyed and used as a benchmark. Here, it was shown that the training coincided with a slight but significant reduction in the suicide rate, indicating a Papageno effect.
Publications
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Increasing Adherence to Media Guidelines on Responsible Reporting on Suicide: Suggestions from Qualitative Interviews with German Journalists. Journalism Studies, 21(4), 494-511.
Markiewitz, Antonia; Arendt, Florian & Scherr, Sebastian
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Preventing imitation suicides: Evaluation of media guidelines on responsible reporting on suicide by German journalists. Implications for designing awareness campaigns. Vortrag gehalten auf der European Conference on Health Communication, ECHC 2019, & 4. Jahrestagung der DGPuK- Fachgruppe Gesundheitskommunikation, 13.-15. November 2019, Zürich (CH).
Markiewitz, A., Arendt, F. & Scherr, S.
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Verantwortungsvolle Berichterstattung über Suizide: Ein Forschungsüberblick und konkrete Empfehlungen für die journalistische Praxis. Vortrag gehalten auf den Kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Tagen 2019 der ÖGK, 25.-27. April 2019, Wien.
Arendt, F., Markiewitz, A. & Scherr, S.
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Verantwortungsvolle Berichterstattung über Suizide: Forschungsüberblick und Empfehlungen für die journalistische Praxis. MedienJournal, 44(3), 50–68.
Markiewitz, Antonia; Arendt, Florian & Scherr, Sebastian
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News for life: improving the quality of journalistic news reporting to prevent suicides. Journal of Communication, 73(1), 73-85.
Arendt, Florian; Markiewitz, Antonia & Scherr, Sebastian
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News for life: Improving the quality of journalistic news reporting to prevent suicides. Vortrag, 73. Jahrestagung der International Communications Association (ICA), 25.-29. Mai 2023, Toronto (CAN).
Arendt, F., Markiewitz, A. & Scherr, S.
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Zwischen Information und Sensation. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Markiewitz, Antonia
