Abstract
Objective: This study was designed to analyze the content, quality, and adherence of media reporting of suicidal behavior in Nigeria from 2016 to 2019 using the responsible reporting on suicide guidelines by the World Health Organization. Also, to note the frequency of the presence of possibly hurtful/negative users generated comments sections. Method: Following the criteria outlined in the media guidelines, content analysis was used to assess the quality and level of adherence to the guidelines. In total 4365 and selected 641 eligible media articles from the top five, internet-based news sources used by Nigerians were included in the study. Results: All the articles breached at least five recommendations in the WHO guideline. Commonly breached items were failure to provide accurate information (100%), failure to educate the public about facts about suicide (99.80%), and the use of sensational headlines (99.80%). Compared to online platforms of the print media, news blogs have comments sections with user-generated content. This was seen in all (n=253) the reported news blog articles examined in the study. Such comments encouraged or sometimes dared people to die by suicide. Conclusion: The results of our study lay a strong foundation for advocacy for a national suicide reporting guideline.
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