Suicide reporting in the Swiss print media

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Abstract
All the Swiss newspapers were screened for the target words ‘suicide’ and ‘attempted suicide’ and all relevant articles were analysed for form and content over a period of 8 months. In 151 out of 208 articles suiclde/attempted suicide was the major topic. Large differences between the newspapers regarding the frequency and format of the articles (e.g. placement on front page) were found. In a few newspapers with a large circulation suicide is clearly treated as a major topic of news sensation. The majority of articles reported cases of completed suicide, mainly shooting and hanging by young persons. Attempted suicide was only reported for persons with celebrity status. This survey shows that there is reason for concern in view of the danger of imitation effects.

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