The Update of the Media Guidelines on the Reporting of Suicide: A Continuing Education Article

Suicide issue and media reports about people who have died by suicide can affect vulnerable people. Portraying sensationalism of suicide in the media, similar to news stories, can lead to increase of suicide due to imitation. Evidence also suggests that way of reporting suicide related news plays a role in suicide rate. The first reflecting guide of the suicide news in the media was published in 1999 by the World Health Organization and in Iran for the first time by the Office of Mental Health at the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in 2007.The present study begins with two topics: "Young Werther Effect", the effect of suicide-related news on increasing suicide attempts (Copycat Suicide Behavior) and "Papageno effect", the effect of the media on the prevention or reduction of suicide attempts. Then the history of the role of guidelines in preventing and reducing suicide cases is investigated and in the regard to the history of public media, the importance of media, social media and its typesis explained. In the following, the history of the guidelines prepared for the media in regard to publishing contents and the latest guidelines prepared by the World Health Organization in 2019 for filmmakers and theater is reviewed. Finally, The Media Guidelines on the Reporting of Suicide by Seyed Mehdi Hassanzadeh et al, in collaboration with the Office of Mental Health, Social Affairs and Prevention of Addiction was revised. All recommendations in this regard are intended as a guide for all relevant stakeholders, including journalists, editors, producers, journalism coaches, researchers, policymakers, and mental health professionals, on social media platforms.