Online reporting on suicide: analysis of media articles and readers\u27 comments

Medijsko poročanje o samomoru je lahko tako dejavnik tveganja kot varovalni dejavnik, saj ima lahko (ne)odgovorno poročanje o samomoru različne vplive na ranljive osebe. Ker so spletni mediji tudi zaradi posebnosti, po katerih se razlikujejo od drugih vrst medijev, vedno bolj pomembni v življenju posameznika, smo želeli raziskati, kako slovenski spletni mediji poročajo o samomoru. V okviru tega nas je posebej zanimalo, koliko poskušajo spletni mediji slediti priporočenim strokovnim smernicam, koliko poskušajo pri tem delovati preventivno in kakšni so komentarji uporabnikov pod spletnimi prispevki o samomoru. Raziskava je zajemala 114 novinarskih prispevkov o samomoru, objavljenih med 1. 1. 2017 in 31. 12. 2017 na spletnih medijih 24ur, MMC RTV in SiolNET, ter 2.544 komentarjev bralcev. Glede na rezultate je vzorec sestavljalo 43 % negativnih prispevkov in 6 % pozitivnih prispevkov ter 15 % resnih in 16 % provokativnih komentarjev. Rezultati so pokazali, da so se spletni mediji med seboj razlikovali v številu objavljenih prispevkov o samomoru, v številu upoštevanih smernic v teh prispevkih in v komentarjih uporabnikov spletnih medijev. Poleg tega smo ugotovili tudi, da je bilo odgovorno poročanje o samomoru pomembno povezano s preventivnimi vidiki, ki so jih izražali komentarji, neodgovorno poročanje o samomoru pa s provokativnimi vidiki, ki so bili izraženi v komentarjih. Ne nazadnje pa smo ugotovili še, da je način poročanja o samomoru pomembno napovedoval tudi bralčevo doživljanje novinarskega prispevka o samomoru. Tako zastavljena raziskava je bila prva takšna raziskava na področju poročanja slovenskih spletnih medijev o samomoru. Hkrati je bila to tudi prva slovenska raziskava, ki je raziskovala komentarje pod prispevki o samomoru. Kot taka lahko zato ta raziskava nudi osnovo nadaljnjemu raziskovanju tega področja, ponuja posodobljen način raziskovanja prispevkov o samomoru in komentarjev bralcev, hkrati pa utemeljuje ter spodbuja uvedbo potrebnih sprememb pri poročanju o samomoru.Media reporting of suicide can be both a risk factor and a protective factor, since (ir)responsible reporting of suicide can have different effects on vulnerable people. Furthermore, online media takes on an increasingly important role in the life of an individual and that is among other factors the result of special features that distinguish online media from other types of media. For this reason, we wanted to conduct a research about the reporting of suicide in Slovenian online media. We were particularly interested in the extent of online media following the recommended professional guidelines. Namely, we wanted to find out how much suicide-protective impact is there in online reporting on suicide and what type of readers’ comments are there under these media articles. The research included 114 media articles with the topic of suicide that were published from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 by 24ur, MMC RTV and SiolNET online media. The research also included 2,544 readers’ comments. Based on the results, the sample consisted of 43% negative articles and 6% positive articles, 15% serious and 16% provocative comments. The results showed that the online media differed in the number of published articles about suicide, in the number of the guidelines that were complied with in these articles and in online media users’ comments. In addition, we also found out that responsible reporting of suicide was significantly related to the preventive aspects expressed in the comments and the irresponsible reporting of suicide was related to the provocative aspects expressed in the comments. Last but not least, we also found out that the readers’ experience of the media reporting on suicide could be predicted based on the style of media reporting on suicide. To our knowledge, this was the first Slovenian study about online reporting on suicide. In addition, this was the first Slovenian study that explored comments under media articles that report on suicide. As such, this study can therefore provide a basis for future research in this area and offer an updated way of exploration on media articles that report on suicide and readers\u27 comments. Furthermore, it can encourage the initiation of the necessary changes in reporting on suicide