April 7-9, 2022 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Abstract: Evaluating Media Frames and Responsible Reporting of Suicide in Nepal before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The increase in the number of suicides is alarming in Nepal. During the COVID-19 pandemic, suicide cases in Nepal increased by 20%, and the rate of mental health illness is predicted to see a further rise. The emergence of COVID-19 created an international healthcare crisis that has exacerbated fear and uncertainty, and the economic recession has left many people vulnerable to psychological problems, projecting an increase in suicidal behavior. News media coverage of suicide has previously influenced suicide ideation and behavior among the wider public. Irresponsible media reporting like the use of alarmist language and sensational headlines can negatively impact the public and could potentially spike suicide ideation. Suicide is a complex phenomenon and could be driven by a combination of factors, making it particularly challenging to report. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) has developed several guidelines for the responsible media reporting on suicide, which include, for example, avoiding sensationalizing; avoid image misuse; provide information and links to support resources; and present suicide as preventable. Nepal currently does not have a national strategy on suicide prevention and lacks mechanisms for recording suicide. Given that people rely mostly on news coverage to learn the preventive and risk factors, the way Nepalese media reports suicide is especially critical to analyze. Considering existing research on Framing (one of the most prominent theoretical frameworks to study media effects), communication about suicide, and current WHO guidelines, in this study, we examined how Nepalese newspapers framed suicide news (positive – negative) before and during the pandemic, paying particular attention to risky and protective frames as well as episodic and thematic frames. We also examined whether these news stories complied with the WHO guidelines on suicide reporting. We analyzed the content of three major online newspapers from Nepal. We retrieved articles published from September 2018 till August 2021 using several keywords, for example, ‘suicide’, ‘poison’, ‘mental health and suicide’, or ‘hanging’, among others. The search yielded 5,400 articles. Articles were excluded from the content analysis if they were duplicates, not related to the suicide or self-harm of a person, or if they were describing terroristic attacks. The final sample included 185 articles that met our criteria. Preliminary analysis indicated that several positive and negative frames were present in the articles analyzed. For example, among the negative frames, sensationalism was present in 22.7% (n = 42), and misuse of images was present in 19% (n = 35) of articles. Among the positive frames, support resources were included in only 12.5% (n = 23) of the articles and portrayals of suicide as preventable was present in 24.9% (n = 46) of the articles. Most of the articles presented episodic (56.3%, n = 103) rather than thematic (25.1%, n = 46) frames. Findings suggest lack of adherence to WHO guidelines in suicide media coverage both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. To improve responsible suicide reporting in Nepali media, coverage would need to move from sensational, episodic frames to content that incorporates educational and help-seeking information.