Association between suicide reporting in the media and suicide: systematic review and meta-analysis
Review of 20 studies suggests risk of suicide increased by 13% in the period after the media reported a death of a celebrity by suicide, and when the suicide method was reported, there was an associated 30% increase in deaths by the same method.
Source:
British Medical Journal
SPS commentary:
In a related editorial, the authors advise that journalists, news editors, and social media platforms must be made to consider more carefully, the costs to population health, and impacts on families and friends, of sensationalist, detailed reporting of tragic celebrity deaths.