Dr. Kundan Aryal

It is 2000-2001 when a series of short-term trainings were conducted for the journalists throughout the country, the trainees were asked not to write the stories about suicides. Danish instructors who were here to support the capacity building of the working journalists made this suggestion. It was the first time when the Nepali journalists were advised to avoid reporting suicides in the classrooms of ethical reporting. Two decades on, this media approach stands valid in both classrooms and newsrooms.
Last week, when a promising Bollywood actor suddenly passed away in Mumbai, the responsible and established institutions of mass media refrained themselves from describing the cause of the death. They informed the people about his death and discussed his contribution to the film industry. As Daniszewski, vice president for standards of the Associated Press (AP), suggests that the less said in the media about the methods of suicide, the less likelihood that a celebrity's death will prompt vulnerable persons to take their own lives with that same method on the spur of the moment.

Guidelines
The AP has been breaking the news since 1846 but it believes that reporting on suicides, like reporting on sexual abuse, is one of the areas in which a journalist should not tell all that he or she knows. All the reputed institutions of mass media in the world follow the similar norms on reporting suicide cases in line with the WHO guidelines. The specialised UN agency that is responsible for international public health calls upon the media professionals to practise its guidelines so as to help prevent suicides.
Like in other parts of the world, suicide is a serious health problem in Nepal as well. The Nepali society is still shy of discussing mental health and suicide prevention measures. However, the mass media can play an effective role in preventing the trend of copycat suicides. Some media reports claim the number of suicide cases is far higher than the official data. The WHO puts Nepal as the country with the 7th highest suicide rate in the world. Statistics show that in the first month of the nationwide lockdown, a total of 487 people committed suicide. Now the Nepali media, instead of merely reporting, needs to take the opportunity to educate the public about suicide.
Scholars suggest that reports on suicides and the treatment of this subject in works of the mass media could induce others to take on the suicidal path. They consider the problem of the modelling effect of press reports on suicide. They provide examples of increases in the rate of suicide by similar methods when the press had given detailed reports on cases of suicide and the accompanying circumstances. The influence of newspaper stories has been emphasised by journalists and experts in suicidal behaviour. McQuail, a British communication theorist, observes that many studies have produced seemingly shocking statistics of average exposure to mediated violence. According to him, the argument of critics has not been just that it might cause violence and crimes, especially by the young, but that it is often intrinsically undesirable, producing emotional disturbance, fear, anxiety and deviant tastes.
It has frequently been suggested that suicidal behaviour, too, might be learnt by a process of modelling and that this may be the case, especially for children, adolescents and young adults. In relations to contagion and imitation, McQuail mentions that there has been empirical support for the theory that presses reports can trigger individuals but widespread actions of a pathological kind. Suicides along with vehicle and plane fatalities tend to increase following press publicity of suicides. It reminds the media of taking care of the effects of contagion on suicidal behaviour.
The danger as indicated by the hypotheses of imitation of suicidal behaviour is that the effects of the mass media could unknowingly be instrumental as transmitters of models for imitation. Because media reports have the potential to either strengthen or damage suicide prevention efforts. Media reports about suicide can increase suicide risk because of imitative or copycat suicides. But responsible reporting on such incidences can help educate the general public about suicide and its prevention. Such reporting offers hopes to people at risk, reduces stigma and encourages conducting an open and positive dialogue.
The WHO, on one hand, reveals that close to 800,000 people commit suicide every year in the world and for each suicide, there are more than 20 suicide attempts. On the other, as an encouraging fact, it stresses that much can be done to prevent suicide at individual, community and national levels. It firmly believes that suicides are preventable and journalists can halt a ripple effect of suicides and suicide attempts on families, friends, colleagues, communities and societies.

Sensitive portrayal
Many institutions in different countries such as the Press Council of India have adopted reporting guidelines on suicides based on the WHO guidelines. Nepali media institutions also need to codify the norms in this regard. As the WHO states that the sensitive portrayal of suicide in media is an important suicide prevention strategy, the Press Council of India recommends the media that while reporting such cases they must not use language which sensationalises or normalises suicide or presents it as a constructive solution to problems. It suggests the media should not use sensational headlines, photographs, video footage, or social media links. It is a global quest that media coverage of suicide prevention needs to be focused on toning down the portrayal of suicidal behaviour.
Once again, a robust discussion needs to be undertaken in both the classrooms of journalism and the newsrooms of media houses. It is because the mass media are always expected to unreservedly abide by the ‘do no harm’ policy.

(Dr. Aryal is associated with the Central Department of Journalism and Mass Communication of Tribhuvan University.)