ArticleThe British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science2025
'Fair and balanced?': quality of suicide-related reporting on major US cable news networks.
Article in The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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15 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe quality of news reports about suicide can influence suicide rates. Although many researchers have aimed to assess the general safety of news reporting in terms of adherence to responsible media guidelines, none have focused on major US cable networks, a key source of public information in North America and beyond.
aimsTo characterise and compare suicide-related reporting by major US cable television news networks across the ideological spectrum.
methodWe searched a news archive (Factiva) for suicide-related transcripts from 'the big three' US cable television news networks (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC) over an 11-year inclusion interval (2012-2022). We included and coded segments with a major focus on suicide (death, attempt and/or thoughts) for general content, putatively harmful and protective characteristics and overarching narratives. We used chi-square tests to compare these variables across networks.
resultsWe identified 612 unique suicide-related segments (CNN, 398; Fox News, 119; MSNBC, 95). Across all networks, these segments tended to focus on suicide death (72-89%) and presented stories about specific individuals (61-87%). Multiple putatively harmful characteristics were evident in segments across networks, including mention of a suicide method (42-52%) - with hanging (15-30%) and firearm use (12-20%) the most commonly mentioned - and stigmatising language (39-43%). Only 15 segments (2%) presented a story of survival.
conclusionsCoverage of suicide stories by major US cable news networks was often inconsistent with responsible reporting guidelines. Further engagement with networks and journalists is thus warranted.
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