The CDC developed guidelines for reporting on suicide in ways that don't increase incidents of suicide in 1989. These guidelines may also be useful in teaching our media how to report on all kinds of violence without increasing new instances of violence. We need to make sure our media is not stampeding us into deeper violence these days.
ASPECTS OF NEWS COVERAGE THAT CAN PROMOTE SUICIDE CONTAGION
Clinicians, researchers, and other health professionals at the workshop agreed that to minimize the likelihood of suicide contagion, reporting should be concise and factual. Although scientific research in this area is not complete, workshop participants believed that the likelihood of suicide contagion may be increased by the following actions:
Presenting simplistic explanations for suicide….
Engaging in repetitive, ongoing, or excessive reporting of suicide in the news….
Providing sensational coverage of suicide...
Reporting "how-to" descriptions of suicide….
Presenting suicide as a tool for accomplishing certain ends….
Glorifying suicide or persons who commit suicide….
Focusing on the suicide completer's positive characteristics….