Suicide Reporting in Korean Media

Contrary to their European and American counterparts Asian Media tend to be more careless and sensational when it comes to reporting suicides.

Of course it is overly simplistic to think that media reporting of suicide is the causal factor of copycat suicides. But people who are already in a critical state of mind might get further encouraged in their plans to commit suicide by the details conveyed in such reports. To prevent copycat suicides, many media are following guidelines on suicide reporting.

Some usual guidelines are:
- not using the word suicide in headlines
- not disclosing the suicide method
- not disclosing the contents of the suicide note
- not offering simple explanations as to why the person in question has committed suicide

- or often even not reporting suicide cases at all unless it cannot be avoided

Korean newspapers however, not only frequently report suicides but also don’t seem to follow the guidelines proposed by the Korean Association for Suicide Prevention.

Headlines of articles dealing with suicide cases often contain the word suicide. As one would expect, such articles get a lot of exposure. Suicide related articles can often be found among the most read news items in the society section. On January 25th 2012 articles involving suicide or suicide attempts ranked number 2, 8 and 10 among the most popular items. Among those was the story of a 70 something man who reportedly killed himself because he was suffering from depression. The newspaper decided to disclose the reason for his depression (his two daughters not being married yet) and contents of his suicide note.

 
Another article (13th most read in the Society section of Naver News on 21. January 2012) illustrates the imprudent style of suicide reporting in Korea.

 

딸 그리던 엄마 명절 앞두고 투신자살

(서울=연합뉴스) 조민정 기자 = 먼저 세상을 떠난 딸을 그리워하던 50대 여성이 명절을 앞두고 스스로 목숨을 끊었다.

20일 오후 7시53분께 서울 마포구의 한 아파트에 A(58.여)씨가 추락해 숨져 있는 것을 주민이 발견했다.

A씨 옆에는 생전에 딸과 같이 키우던 애완견이 숨진 채 함께 발견됐다.

A씨는 6년 전 딸이 이 아파트에서 스스로 뛰어내려 숨진 뒤 우울증과 불면증을 앓아왔고 평소 주변 사람들에게 "죽고 싶다"고 말해온 것으로 전해졌다.

5층에 사는 A씨는 딸이 뛰어내렸던 9층으로 가 몸을 던졌고 남편에게는 "잘 살아라"라는 내용이 담긴 유서를 남겼다.

경찰은 딸의 죽음으로 우울증을 앓게 된 A씨가 스스로 아파트에서 뛰어내려 목숨을 끊은 것으로 보고 정확한 경위를 조사하고 있다.

So let's see what's wrong with the article:

 

Headline contains:
- the word suicide
- the suicide method
- the circumstances and motivation of her decision (already implicitly suggesting to the reader that the daughter died by suicide)

Text contains:
- a description when, where and in which state the woman was found.
- that she took the family dog with her.
- how her daughter committed suicide.
- description of the pain the mother went through.
- that she committed suicide in the same way and at the same location as her daughter.
- contents of the suicide note left to her husband.

It is clear that this article has the potential to encourage other parents who are in the same situation to commit suicide as well. Therefore, the Korean government, being confronted with the highest suicide rate of all OECD countries, has to make sure that the media take an active role in suicide prevention.