ArticleBMJ open2019
Mass media representation of suicide in a high suicide state in India: an epidemiological comparison with suicide deaths in the population.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Young adult perspectives on media content related to suicide in South India: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Portrayals of suicide and suicide attempts among LGBTQ+ individuals in Indian digital news.Dialogues in health · 2025Article
- Prison Suicide in Bangladesh: A News Content Analysis.Health science reports · 2025Article
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- Coverage of suicide deaths in newspapers and perceptions of suicide loss survivors on reporting: Insights from a community survey in India.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Marital status and suicidal behavior in South Asia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health science reports · 2023Article
- A Scoping Review of Gender Differences in Suicide in India.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Addressing Mental Health Stigma in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries: A New Frontier for Digital Mental Health.Ethics, medicine, and public health · 2021Article
- Application of a Scorecard Tool for Assessing and Engaging Media on Responsible Reporting of Suicide-Related News in India.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic related lockdown on Suicide: Analysis of newspaper reports during pre-lockdown and lockdown period in Bangladesh and India.Asian journal of psychiatry · 2021Article
- Article
- Aggregated COVID-19 suicide incidences in India: Fear of COVID-19 infection is the prominent causative factor.Psychiatry research · 2020Article
- "It's a battle for eyeballs and suicide is clickbait": The media experience of suicide reporting in India.PloS one · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesSuicide rates in India are among the highest in the world, equating to over 200 000 suicides annually. Reports of suicides are a routine feature in major newspapers in India, and reporters may selectively present 'newsworthy' suicide stories. The aim of this paper was to systematically investigate whether mass media reports of suicides reflect the epidemiological data on suicide in a high suicide state in India.
designWe undertook a content analysis study to extract sociodemographic data on suicides reported among nine of the most highly read daily newspapers in the high suicide southern state of Tamil Nadu between June and December 2016. A total of 1258 newspaper articles were retrieved containing reports on 1631 suicides. Two-tailed binomial tests on aggregate frequencies assessed whether the sociodemographic characteristics of suicides in the newspaper articles were different to the population suicide statistics for Tamil Nadu.
resultsWe identified some statistically significant discrepancies between suicide characteristics in the population and the media. Suicides involving females (p<0.001), those aged under 30 years (p<0.001), separated or widowed males (p<0.001), unmarried females (p<0.001), those using methods with a higher case fatality rate (ie, hanging (p<0.001), jumping off high structures (p<0.001) and coming under vehicles (p<0.001) and those who were students (p<0.001) or working in the agricultural sector (p<0.001) were significantly over-reported relative to their occurrence in the broader population. Suicides involving men (p<0.001), those aged over 30 years and above (p<0.001), those who were married and suicides by poisoning (p<0.001) were significantly under-reported relative to their occurrence in the broader population.
conclusionsThe suicide characteristics in the print media were not entirely representative of suicides in the broader Tamil Nadu population, which may lead the general public to develop misunderstandings about suicide in their state. The discrepancies we identified will inform tailored suicide prevention education for media professionals.
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