Suicide reporting in the Swiss print media: Frequency, form and content of articles

All the Swiss newspapers were screened for the target words‘suicide’ and ‘attempted suicide’ andall relevant articles were analysed for form and content overa period of 8 months. In 151 out of 208 articles suiclde/attemptedsuicide was the major topic. Large differences between the newspapersregarding the frequency and format of the articles (e.g. placementon front page) were found. In a few newspapers with a largecirculation suicide is clearly treated as a major topic of newssensation. The majority of articles reported cases of completedsuicide, mainly shooting and hanging by young persons. Attemptedsuicide was only reported for persons with celebrity status.This survey shows that there is reason for concern in view ofthe danger of imitation effects.