The use of WHO recommendations for the prevention of suicide. The case of the newspaper Abc Articles uri icon

publication date

  • January 2018

start page

  • 810

end page

  • 827

volume

  • 73

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1138-5820

abstract

  • Suicide is the first cause of non-natural death in Spain. According to the WHO, a better coverage of suicide by media can become an effective strategy for its prevention. Objective: This study analyses whether WHO recommendations for the coverage of suicide in media has influenced the mediatic treatment of suicide in the ABC newspaper. Methodology: Analysis of news about suicides published in the years 1995, 2000 and 2005. Results: 90 appearances about suicides were identified, observing a significant reduction in the percentage of news that informed about the method used, which informed about suicide as something unexplainable or simplistic and that described the suicide as method to face problems between 1995 and 2005. Conclusions: The informative coverage of Abc suicide has improved between 1995 and 2005 but not in all aspects recommended by the WHO.

keywords

  • suicide; prevention; press; supre; abc; style