The role of language in suicide reporting: Investigating the influence of problematic suicide referents

Florian Arendt, Sebastian Scherr, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler and Benedikt Till

Social Science & Medicine, 2018, vol. 208, issue C, 165-171

Abstract: Although suicide experts recommend using neutral suicide referents in news media reporting, this recommendation has not yet been tested empirically. This recommendation, based on the empirically yet untested assumption that problematic suicide referents carry meaning that is inappropriate from a prevention perspective, may lead to a different perspective on suicide, termed “framing effects.” For example, in German-speaking countries, the neutral term Suizid (suicide) is recommended. Conversely, Freitod (“free death”) and Selbstmord (“self-murder”) convey associative meanings related to problematic concepts such as free will (Freitod) and crime/murder (Selbstmord), and are therefore not recommended.

Keywords: Suicide; Media; Framing effects; Priming; Reporting language; Media guidelines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.02.008

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