"It's a battle for eyeballs and suicide is clickbait": The media experience of suicide reporting in India

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Suicide rates in India are among the highest in the world, equating to over 200,000 suicide deaths annually. Crime reports of suicide incidents routinely feature in the Indian mass media, with minimal coverage of suicide as a broader public health issue. To supplement our recently published content analysis study, we undertook qualitative interviews to examine media professionals' perspectives and experiences in relation to media reporting of suicide-related news in India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 2017-18, semi-structured qualitative interviews with twenty-eight print media and television media professionals with experience reporting on suicide-related news were undertaken acr..