Page 20 - Intuition, Imagination and Innovation in Suicidology Conference. 12th Triple i | Virtual Conference | 25th–27th May 2021
P. 20
h Triple i | Virtual Conference | 25th–27th May 2021 Public Response to Media Reporting
on Suicide
Vanja Gomboc
Vanja Gomboc is a researcher at the UP IAM Slovene Centre for Suicide Research.
She participates in the implementation of various national and international re-
search and intervention projects in the field of mental health and suicidal beha-
viour. Her primary research focus is on suicide media coverage and the public re-
sponse to media content about suicide. Thus, she cooperated in the preparation
of the Recommendations for responsible reporting of suicide during a pandemic.
As a member of the Department of Psychology and a teaching assistant in Facul-
ty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of
Primorska, she also participates in the pedagogical process.
Abstract. Inadequate media coverage of suicide can have a negative impact
on the media user, while responsible coverage of suicide can have a preven-
tative effect on the user. This is particularly important at a time when new
media (e.g., online media websites) are coming into focus as they offer grea-
ter involvement of the media user in the media article about suicide. In this
way, new media transfer some of their role in preventing suicidal behaviour
to new media users. Online media articles provide the opportunity to com-
ment and thus interact with the administrators of the website, the author of
the article, and other users. By analysing the comments posted under me-
dia articles about suicide, we can gain insight into perceptions and attitudes
about suicide in society. Moreover, users also contribute significantly to the
type of reporting on suicide and the opinions expressed on the topic in addi-
tional comments. The results of several studies confirm that there is a relati-
onship between the type of coverage of a media article on suicide, the num-
ber of user comments, and their content. A comparison of comments under
media articles on suicide published in different countries also provides infor-
mation about the public’s interest in addressing the issue: in some countri-
es, comments reflect interest and engagement with the topic, while in other
countries, comments show disinterest and disengagement with suicide pre-
vention among the public. Considering that the style of media coverage of
suicide is related to how users address the issue in their comments, caution
is needed when writing a media article about suicide and clear procedures
and rules are needed for commenting on such articles.
20 https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-068-4.20
on Suicide
Vanja Gomboc
Vanja Gomboc is a researcher at the UP IAM Slovene Centre for Suicide Research.
She participates in the implementation of various national and international re-
search and intervention projects in the field of mental health and suicidal beha-
viour. Her primary research focus is on suicide media coverage and the public re-
sponse to media content about suicide. Thus, she cooperated in the preparation
of the Recommendations for responsible reporting of suicide during a pandemic.
As a member of the Department of Psychology and a teaching assistant in Facul-
ty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of
Primorska, she also participates in the pedagogical process.
Abstract. Inadequate media coverage of suicide can have a negative impact
on the media user, while responsible coverage of suicide can have a preven-
tative effect on the user. This is particularly important at a time when new
media (e.g., online media websites) are coming into focus as they offer grea-
ter involvement of the media user in the media article about suicide. In this
way, new media transfer some of their role in preventing suicidal behaviour
to new media users. Online media articles provide the opportunity to com-
ment and thus interact with the administrators of the website, the author of
the article, and other users. By analysing the comments posted under me-
dia articles about suicide, we can gain insight into perceptions and attitudes
about suicide in society. Moreover, users also contribute significantly to the
type of reporting on suicide and the opinions expressed on the topic in addi-
tional comments. The results of several studies confirm that there is a relati-
onship between the type of coverage of a media article on suicide, the num-
ber of user comments, and their content. A comparison of comments under
media articles on suicide published in different countries also provides infor-
mation about the public’s interest in addressing the issue: in some countri-
es, comments reflect interest and engagement with the topic, while in other
countries, comments show disinterest and disengagement with suicide pre-
vention among the public. Considering that the style of media coverage of
suicide is related to how users address the issue in their comments, caution
is needed when writing a media article about suicide and clear procedures
and rules are needed for commenting on such articles.
20 https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-068-4.20
