Martin Moore

It took a long time, but in 2006, after being shown compelling evidence about the link between media portrayals of suicide and ‘copycat’ suicides, newspapers agreed to be more restrained in their coverage.

‘When reporting suicide,’ the newspapers’ editorial code now reads ‘care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used.’

Yet, just as the newspapers decided to show more self-restraint, people were given free rein to show and share as much as they wanted via the internet.

There may be no link between the suicides of seven young people in Bridgend, but given the findings of past research, the new taskforce that has been set up to investigate possible connections between the deaths needs to spend some time looking at the role of social networking sites and memorial sites like GoneTooSoon.

The evidence linking media coverage and suicide was collected together and discussed at length by the Oxford Centre for Suicide Research in 2003 (summarised here).

When newspapers covered suicides in graphic detail – particularly those of celebrities – over two thirds of the research studies found that the number of suicides went up. ‘In 21 [of 30 studies] there was evidence of an increase in suicides after the [newspaper] reports, with 10 of these also finding evidence of a causal link between the reported suicide(s) and those occurring following the report.’

For television news the evidence was even starker. ‘Of 13 studies of television news reports of suicides on at least two of three national TV networks in the USA,’ Professor Keith Hawton’s research showed, ‘an increase in suicide rates was found after the reports in 10 of the studies.’ And it wasn’t just from news reports, fictional representations of suicide in dramas and soap operas sparked increases as well.

In his conclusion Hawton could not have been clearer about his findings. ‘Media reporting or portrayal of suicides can influence suicidal behaviour, leading to: Increases in the overall number of suicides; [and] Increases in the use of particular methods of suicide’.

Melanie Davies, the mother of one of the young men who killed himself in Bridgend, was quoted in the Guardian as saying “It’s like a craze – a stupid sort of fad. They all seem to want to be copying each other by wanting to die”.

Academic research suggests she may well be right. It also suggests that media may have played a large part in their decisions. What can be done about this – and particularly about self-published media on the net – is a very difficult question, but one we need to ask to help avoid a repeat of the tragedy at Bridgend.