IASP Task Force - Suicide and the Media
IASP Task Force on Suicide and the Media
In recent years, most countries which have developed national suicide prevention strategies have included the development of guidelines that have attempted to promote accurate, responsible and ethical reporting of suicide in the media. These guidelines have arisen from a substantial body of evidence that suggests that incautious media reporting and portrayal of suicide has the potential to encourage imitative behaviour among vulnerable individuals. They are designed to promote responsible reporting of suicide, but have sometimes been misinterpreted by media professionals as promoting censorship. Such misunderstandings about these media guidelines have led to reluctance among many journalists to adopt them. There is a need for improved collaboration with media professionals to reach a consensus on this issue. The IASP Task Force on Suicide and the Media is taking up this challenge.
Goals
The Task Force has the following goals:
- To improve linkages between suicide experts and media professionals;
- To systematically review research about suicide and the media (including evaluations of media guidelines), to identify gaps in knowledge, to develop a research agenda to address these gaps, and to encourage relevant research;
- To identify, collect and collate media guidelines which have been developed around the world, and examine and report on their content, development and implementation;
- To work collaboratively with media professionals to develop recommendations for developing and implementing media guidelines;
- To work collaboratively with media professionals to promote media guidelines to journalists, editors and other stakeholders; and
- To provide an international body of experts that can provide authoritative comment on issues regarding suicide and the media, including issues surrounding media guidelines.
Activities
To date, the Task Force has conducted the following activities::
- Developed a ‘virtual network’ of individuals and organisations with an interest in suicide and the media (including suicide experts and media professionals);
- Encouraged international collaborative research on suicide and the media;
- Collated international guidelines on suicide and the media (2007/8);
- Organised symposia on suicide and the media at IASP congresses;
- Developed and continued to promote a section on suicide and the media on the IASP website to increase awareness of IASP members about this issue;
- Expanded a bank of experts to act as an internationally recognised, IASP backed spokesgroup on issues relating to suicide and the media;
- Revised the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on suicide and the media, and re-badged them as a joint WHO/IASP publication (2008): http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/resource_media.pdf;
- Appointed Thomas Niederkrotenthaler as co-chair to enhance international cooperation (2010); and
- Started an extensive meta-analysis to estimate the effect size of media effects on suicidal behavior (2010)
Planned activities include:
- Ongoing efforts with respect to many of the above activities;
- Hosting symposia / workshops at future conferences;
- Hold meetings at each of these conferences;
- Development of an IASP statement on suicide and the media which distinguishes the international focus of the Task Force from national efforts of within-country organisations;
- Broadening the scope of the Task Force to include newer media, such as the Internet; and
- Completion of a meta-analysis.
Co-Chairs and Contact Details
The Task Force is chaired by Jane Pirkis from Australia and Thomas Niederkrotenthaler from Austria. Interested parties can contact Jane and Thomas directly:
Associate Professor Jane Pirkis
Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics
Melbourne School of Population Health
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
AUSTRALIA
Ph: +61 3 8344 0647
Fax: +61 3 9348 1174
Email
Assistant Professor Thomas Niederkrotenthaler
Center for Public health, Department of General Practice and Family Medicine
Medical University of Vienna
Währingerst 13 a, 1090 Vienna
AUSTRIA
Ph: +43 1 40160 34957
Fax: +43 1 40160 9656
Email
