Adherence to the WHO guidelines of newspaper-reporting on suicides in Pakistan: a content analysis

There is a lack of evidence regarding the rate of adherence to the World Health Organization (WHO) media guidelines of vernacular newspapers reporting on suicides in Pakistan. Also, the relevance of this report is based on the lack of official data regarding the number of suicides across the country. The aim of this study was to explore the rate of adherence to the WHO guidelines of two popular newspapers in reporting on suicides in Pakistan. We daily analysed the online version of two popular newspapers in Pakistan, the daily Jeejal (in Sindhi) and daily Jang (in Urdu), from 1 August 2021 to 31 July 2022; we performed a content analysis of news reporting on national suicides and evaluated their rate of adherence to the WHO media guidelines. One hundred and seventy-three reports of suicides were identified and analysed; 84% of them reported the names of victims, 70% reported their age, and 46% included information regarding their occupation. Characteristics of suicide methods were reported in 87% of reports, reasons for suicide in 66%, as well as locations in 87%. In general, 84% of newspapers reported incomplete information regarding suicide prevention and help-seeking, so we may conclude they were not fully adherent to the WHO recommendations. This study indicates that national vernacular newspapers may improve their reporting on suicides and should revise their policy in order to be adherent to the WHO guidelines. Also, better and responsible reporting may provide an accurate epidemiological source regarding suicide where official data are missing at the national level.