'Fair and balanced?': quality of suicide-related reporting on major US cable news networks

Abstract

Background: The 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.

Aims: To characterise and compare suicide-related reporting by major US cable television news networks across the ideological spectrum.

Method: We 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.

Results: We 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.

Conclusions: Coverage 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.

Keywords: Papageno effect; Suicide; Werther effect; media; media guidelines.