Reporting of suicide and trespass incidents by online media in the United States.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  The reporting of suicide and trespass incidents by online media in the United States.
• Creators:
  Gabree, Scott H. ; Mejia, Bianka
• Corporate Creators:
  John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Railroad Policy and Development ; United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research, Development, and Technology
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Suicide
  • Trespassers
  • News
  • Recommendations
  • Fatalities
  • Railroads Suicide contagion
  • Werther effect
  • Media outlets
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FRA/ORD-17/02
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Technical report
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
• Abstract:
  The reporting of a suicide death in the media has the potential to increase imitative suicide attempts for vulnerable individuals ; who read the article, a phenomenon known as suicide contagion or the “Werther effect.” Organizations around the world have ; developed recommendations for how to responsibly report on suicide incidents in a way less likely to result in contagion. For this ; research, 1,173 articles on FRA-reported suicide and trespass incidents were collected and analyzed for content. While media ; outlets often followed many of the suicide reporting recommendations, none were consistently followed in every article analyzed ; and a few key recommendations were often never applied. For example, the term “suicide” was often included in the title of ; articles, details about the location where the suicide took place and the actions preceding impact were often provided, while helpseeking ; information was only rarely included. In general, railway suicide incidents tended to be reported in a similar way to ; trespass incidents, rather than as a suicide by another means. The development of railway-specific recommendations could help to ; encourage responsible reporting practices regarding railway trespass and suicide incidents.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  RR04AA/PA155
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12424/dot_12424_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.16 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Volpe Center ; Federal Railroad Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2a135d4c98c4b7fa3ac8aff01a8e7acbe532e1caab12648fe8ca604d88ad7c08ecf9f630d78f3dc33813778d534c28b9735866d8264c76aa4c179b9384485949