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News reporting of suicidal behaviour in Nigeria: Adherence assessment to World Health Organization guidelines

Author

Listed:
  • Tosin Philip Oyetunji
  • SM Yasir Arafat
  • Famori Stephen Oluwaseyi
  • Obafemi Oluwasanmi
  • Michael Afolami
  • Faith Moyo Ajayi

Abstract

Background: Sensible media reporting has been considered an important suicide prevention strategy which is an under-researched issue in Nigeria. There is a dearth of research assessing how the media has been reporting suicidal news to the general population in Nigeria. Aim: It was aimed to see the adherence of news reports to the World Health Organization (WHO) suicide reporting guidelines while reporting the events. Methods: We searched the published contents of 10 English newspapers of Nigeria and assessed the adherence to the WHO media guidelines for reporting suicide from January 2010 to December 2019. Results: Most of the reports (85.31%) mentioned completed suicides, 4.4% recorded suicides, and 9.5% recorded suicide-related homicides. The majority of the reports mentioned the name (85.6%) and profession (63.8%) of the person; the name of the method (92%) and life events (67.8%). The word ‘suicide’ was mentioned in the headline of 87.6% of the reports; the method was mentioned in the headline of 22.8% of the reports, and 31.7% of the reports referred to life events in the headline. Only 8.8% of reports had traced mental illness, 33.3% traced the warning signs, 2.8% mentioned evidence of substance abuse and very few reports mentioned educative materials. Conclusion: The study found that Nigeria’s online newspapers are poorly adherent to the WHO media reporting guidelines. Explicit descriptions of the person, methods, life events, and mono-causal explanations were frequently published. Negligible initiatives have been found to educate the general people in the reports.

Suggested Citation

  • Tosin Philip Oyetunji & SM Yasir Arafat & Famori Stephen Oluwaseyi & Obafemi Oluwasanmi & Michael Afolami & Faith Moyo Ajayi, 2021. "News reporting of suicidal behaviour in Nigeria: Adherence assessment to World Health Organization guidelines," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(5), pages 448-452, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:67:y:2021:i:5:p:448-452
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764020963356
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nazriatun Nisa & Muhammad Arifin & Muhammad Fauzan Nur & Shylvana Adella & Marthoenis Marthoenis, 2020. "Indonesian online newspaper reporting of suicidal behavior: Compliance with World Health Organization media guidelines," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(3), pages 259-262, May.
    2. Vikas Menon & Charanya Kaliamoorthy & Vivekanandhan Kavanoor Sridhar & Natarajan Varadharajan & Rini Joseph & Shivanand Kattimani & Sujita Kumar Kar & SM Yasir Arafat, 2020. "Do Tamil newspapers educate the public about suicide? Content analysis from a high suicide Union Territory in India," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(8), pages 785-791, December.
    3. Niederkrotenthaler, Thomas & Till, Benedikt & Kapusta, Nestor D. & Voracek, Martin & Dervic, Kanita & Sonneck, Gernot, 2009. "Copycat effects after media reports on suicide: A population-based ecologic study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 1085-1090, October.
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