Sensationalizing Suicide: News Media Portrayal of Suicides in India

Aim/Purpose In the past few years, news media organizations have been restructured by the progress in technology in many nations across the globe. This progress includes the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in news media. In India, the news media are undergoing changes with the inclusion of AI methods in various areas, such as news production and dissemination. Therefore, it becomes significant to study the impact of AI on news media in India. Background In this paper, the aim is to present a comprehensive survey of research done related to the usage as well as the impact of AI on Indian news media. The study aims to gather knowledge about the impact of AI on the transformation of news media practices in TV, print, and digital news media in our country. Methodology The narrative review methodology has been adopted in the research to conduct the literature review. Contribution The proposed work contributes to giving a comprehensive understanding of the impact of AI in Indian News media. Findings There has not been any comprehensive research related to the impact of AI on news media personnel in India. There is no study comprising the professional and economic impact of AI on news media personnel, such as reporters, producers, anchors, and owners of news media organizations. There has been no study about the perception of AI usage in Indian news media. Also, no study has been done on how AI can be used to enhance customer experience in news media in India. Recommendations for Researchers The proposed work aims to assist media students and researchers in conducting further research associated with the impact of AI in Indian news media based on data and analysis performed in the proposed work. Impact on Society The study can encourage the news media organizations to use AI more efficiently and help them to balance between AI and humans. Future Research As future work, comprehensive research on the impact of the usage of AI in TV, print, and digital Indian news media is proposed. This includes personal and professional experiences of news reporters, news producers, news consumers, and owners of news media organizations.

Byline: Lakshmi. Vijaykumar Suicide is an important issue in the Indian context. More than one lakh (one hundred thousand) lives are lost every year to suicide in our country. In the last two decades, the suicide rate has increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000. There is a wide variation in the suicide rates within the country. The southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have a suicide rate of > 15 while in the Northern States of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir, the suicide rate is The majority of suicides (37.8%) in India are by those below the age of 30 years. The fact that 71% of suicides in India[sup] [1] are by persons below the age of 44 years imposes a huge social, emotional and economic burden on our society. The near-equal suicide rates of young men and women[sup] [2] and the consistently narrow male: female ratio of 1.4: 1 denotes that more Indian women die by suicide than their Western counterparts. Poisoning (36.6%), hanging (32.1%) and self-immolation (7.9%) were the common methods used to commit suicide.[sup] [1] Two large epidemiological verbal autopsy studies in rural Tamil Nadu reveal that the annual suicide rate is six to nine times the official rate.[sup] [3],[4] If these figures are extrapolated, it suggests that there are at least half a million suicides in India every year. It is estimated that one in 60 persons in our country are affected by suicide. It includes both, those who have attempted suicide and those who have been affected by the suicide of a close family or friend. Thus, suicide is a major public and mental health problem, which demands urgent action. Although suicide is a deeply personal and an individual act, suicidal behaviour is determined by a number of individual and social factors. Ever since Esquirol wrote that All those who committed suicide are insane and Durkheim proposed that suicide was an outcome of social / societal situations, the debate of individual vulnerability vs social stressors in the causation of suicide has divided our thoughts on suicide. Suicide is best understood as a multidimensional, multifactorial malaise. Suicide is perceived as a social problem in our country and hence, mental disorder is given equal conceptual status with family conflicts, social maladjustment etc.[sup] [5] According to the official data, the reason for suicide is not known for about 43% of suicides while illness and family problems contribute to about 44% of suicides. Divorce, dowry, love affairs, cancellation or the inability to get married (according to the system of arranged marriages in India), illegitimate pregnancy, extra-marital affairs and such conflicts relating to the issue of marriage, play a crucial role, particularly in the suicide of women in India. A distressing feature is the frequent occurrence of suicide pacts and family suicides, which are more due to social reasons and can be viewed as a protest against archaic societal norms and expectations. In a population-based study on domestic violence, it was found that 64% had a significant correlation between domestic violence of women and suicidal ideation.[sup] [6] Domestic violence was also found to be a major risk factor for suicide in a study in Bangalore.[sup] [7] The population-based study has been done in various cities in India, however the Bangalore study is the only psychological autopsy study that focused on completed suicide and domestic violence.[sup] Poverty, unemployment, debts and educational problems are also associated with suicide. The recent spate of farmers' suicide in India has raised societal and governmental concern to address this growing tragedy. …

The epidemiology of suicide in India from 1997 to 2007 was explored in order to ascertain the incidence and rates of suicide by gender, age groups, marital status, state, causes...

ABSTRACTThis study examines the relationship between Indian non-Muslim adolescents’ Western and Indian news media use, exposure to Hollywood and Bollywood movies, and their prejudice against Muslim minorities. Based on contact hypothesis, the moderating roles of out-group contact were tested within this framework. Multivariate analyses revealed that Western news media use and exposure to Hollywood movies were significant predictors of anti-Muslim prejudice, while frequent, enriched contact with Muslims reduced out-group prejudice. The relationship between Indian news media use and prejudice was statistically insignificant. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Introduction: Suicide is a mortality contributor to a major extent among young and economically productive populations. Current study aims to analyze the trend, causes, and modalities of suicides in India over the last decade. Methods: Retrospective observational study based on analysis of secondary data compiled from the National Crime Records Bureau, which is a national database maintained by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Results: The study included data related to suicides in India from 2012-2021. An increase in the number of suicides was noted from 135445 in 2012 to 164033 in 2021. The most common approach to committing suicide was found to be hanging over the years, increasing from 37% in 2012 to 57.05% in 2021. Persons resorting to poisoning, self-immolation, drowning, and coming under running vehicles have decreased from 2012-2021. The majority of suicide victims contributed to 65.31% and 72.53% of suicides in 2012and 2021, respectively. The highest percentage of suicide victims over the years was found to be the age group of 18-30 years (34%) which is closely followed by the 30-45 years age group. Family problems have been the most common cause of suicide from 2012 (25.6%) to 2021 (33.2%), with a very slight decrease from 20.8% in 2012 to 18.6% in 2021. Conclusion: The burden of suicide has not shown any decline in last decade. There is a need for multisectoral intervention to reduce the burden of suicides, involving all the stakeholders, including government, family, community, educational institutions, and health care providers. Keywords: Suicide, Suicide Rate, Public Health, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Secondary Data.

Aim:We aimed to examine and interpret the changes in internet search volumes for keywords representing different drug use-related themes before and after the drug use started being discussed in the Indian news media during recent celebrity drug trials.Materials and Methods:Data were extracted using Google Trends framework in health-related research. Search keywords were prepared under four broad themes: General interest in cannabis use, drug use being a criminal/unlawful act, help seeking for cannabis use, and help-seeking for drug-related problems. The mean relative search volume was analyzed and compared pre- and post-media discussion about celebrity drug use using SPSS V23.0.Results:A significant increase was noted in online search interest for keywords related to themes of general interest in cannabis use and drug use being a criminal/unlawful act once the media discussion on the celebrity drug use started. However, no corresponding increase was noted in online search interest for themes of help seeking for drug-related problems in general and cannabis use in particular.Conclusion:Media discussions on celebrity drug use may impact the online search behavior of the general public adversely. There is an need to develop and adhere to drug use reporting guidelines by media professionals.

ABSTRACTApplying stakeholder theory in an international context, this study examined how Indian news media and corporations communicatively define corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the relationship between their narratives. Content analysis of 242 news articles and 200 corporate websites shows that although there are signs of a progressive CSR attitude, the news media and corporate discourse are still ignoring current issues and challenges relevant to Indian society. However, there were also indicators of tensions between moral and strategic intent, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic motivations that previous studies have argued should define CSR in the Indian context. Implications for international CSR research and practice in the context of sociocultural and media environment are discussed.

This article argues that the amount and nature of disability representation in English and Telugu news media directly and indirectly serves neo-liberal objectives. Disability construction in the Indian print news media may be construed as a product of the political economy of representation. News articles present disabled people as having ‘use value’ in society, ready to be offered for ‘exchange value’ in the market. These insights are derived from a close reading of news articles using framing analysis, which allowed us to explore the underlying political economy of disability coverage in mainstream news. This article situates the symbiotic economic relations established through the media’s consciously placed disability representation within the existing discourses related to disability. It also attempts to reevaluate the available themes on disability and media representation with a view to uncovering the implied meanings of political economy recurrent in print news in India.

This study combines critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to explore how Islam and Muslims are portrayed in Indian news media. The analysis involves a 602,588-word corpus from three major Indian English language newspapers covering a three-year period (January 1, 2019—December 31, 2022). The study employs collocation and concordance line analysis using Antconc software to identify key thematic categories. Among the notable findings, conflict and crime emerge as a prevalent theme, depicting Muslims, particularly men, as perpetrators in situations related to coercive religious conversion. Additionally, a significant focus on terrorism is evident, with Islam often simplistically associated with acts of terror, contributing to the preservation of stereotypes. Moreover, the use of terms such as "community" and "population" in association with Muslimsfosters a sense of differentiation and collectivism, categorizing them as distinct groups. Keywords: corpus, critical discourse analysis, Islam, Muslims, representation

Internet based New Media have been changing paradigms of News-Media and News-concept itself in the recent past. Now, with the combination of streaming video and faster 3G internet connections in India, the internet based New Media has become the fastest way to find news stories. The internet based New Media appears to differ from other mass media from the point of degree of niche targeting of political information-oriented Web-sites. India has been witnessing the increasing role of Internet media over a decade into political awareness among masses. During elections (Pre & Post) period, all major parties utilize the new media in campaigns and publicity as they use blog sites, emails and a lot of news writings through public relations firms streamed via internet based websites of all major print and electronic media. A small political update gets streamed instantly on web pages of newspapers and television channels and public get to know it within seconds. Our this research study focuses upon the increasing role of new media into political dialogues or political communication between political leaders and public who use the new media or masses. Indian media has witnessed a sea-change in media scenario since 2000 year. Be it newspaper, magazine or television news channels or radio channels, every news media now have their own news websites on internet or live video streaming or live channels on internet or e-papers or websites i.e. dot.com and audience members now find it easy to watch or read those newspapers or magazines or television channels on internet and their laptop or computer systems because all media form is now being converged at one point- technology i.e. internet. So, in the period of convergent media, political groups, parties or political communities have to be one step ahead to connect public or voters.

With the overwhelming suicide rate among men over women, and family problems and illness being the major causes of suicide in India, it is important that we have a better understanding of how men struggle with depression in the context of family. The aim of this study is to understand the subjective experiences of depression and family’s role in gender socialization among Indian men. A non-clinical sample of nine men was selected using convenience sampling from a human service organization. Theoretical sampling of biographical accounts of a clinical group (one male client with a history of clinical depression) was used for the triangulation of data. A consensual qualitative research methodology was adopted. The findings contribute to new insights into the understanding of depression in the light of early family influences among Indian men. Implications suggest that further studies of male depression in the family context, the challenge of family life education in India, and the importance of gender sensitivity in counseling with men are required.

BackgroundSuicide is a major public health concern in India especially among children and adolescents. The yearly national statistics show a concerning trend of rising suicide deaths in these age groups.MethodsThe present study, taking 26 years of national data from the National Crime Record Bureau during 1995–2021, examined the trend, patterns, means, and modes of children/adolescent suicides in India. We also undertook a time series analysis by using ARIMA (0,2,1) model to forecast the expected suicide rate for the next one decade.ResultsA rising trend of suicide rate among children and adolescents was observed in India over the last 26 years. The forecast indicates a continuance of rising suicide cases for the upcoming decade in India. A substantially different trend of suicide rate was observed among early and late adolescents indicating significantly high vulnerability of late adolescents. Among children /adolescents, the most common causes of suicide were family problems, academic failure, illness, and unemployment. Illness has emerged as one of the leading causes of suicide, with a significant rise over time. Poverty and unemployment were also found as the important contributors with a steadily increasing trend of suicide among children and adolescents facing these problems in recent years.ConclusionThe study provides important analysis and information on suicide among children/adolescents in India, by providing useful insights for parents, teachers, policymakers, healthcare practitioners, and stakeholders aiming to prevent and control children and adolescent suicide and boost mental health. The study also provides important leads on risk factors with a forecast of suicide trends for the next 10 years.

India's Right to Information Act (RTIA) has been described as one of the strongest laws in the world for access to public information. The preamble spells out its promise to expose government corruption. Given that the Indian news media is the largest in the world and has a storied history of unearthing public corruption, this exploratory study employed the normative theory of the monitorial role of the news media to examine the extent that the RTIA was used to uncover government corruption. This content analysis examined a census of 221 articles published in India's three largest English-language newspapers in the period after the RTIA was adopted in October 2005 and then five years later. Slightly more than 80% of the articles referencing corruption fell into four thematic categories: progress on implementing the law, public education about the legislation, the watchdog role of activists and other non-journalists, and a brief mention of the RTIA. During this period the English-language dailies reported their own use of the RTIA to expose corruption in 2% of the articles.

Media as a site of reproduction of existing social relations and inequality is a significant area of research. This article explores how mainstream print media contributes to an area of entrenched inequality in India: caste-based inequalities and dominant-subordinate power relations. It explicitly examines how Dalit communities, who for centuries were forced to abide by casteist notions of hierarchy, are framed by Indian news media. A comparative approach using content and framing analysis have been undertaken to analyse the news media reports on Dalit discrimination published in the leading English (Times of India) and Hindi newspaper (Amar Ujala) from 2011 to 2014. Conceptualising the data along the lines of framing theory in a transitioning society, this study explores a new-casteist approach to reporting Dalits. The news media reports the Dalit grievances but ignores the complexities of ethnocultural minorities in a transitioning democratic society and involves Dalit passive-fixation and/or demonisation.

Access to sources of information has allowed states to use media as a tool of propaganda warfare. It can be observed that within the South Asian theatre, India and Pakistan are involved in propaganda warfare, spreading disinformation campaigns with the aim to disrepute the other's international image. To understand the techniques of propaganda warfare, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky's propaganda model provides a befitting conceptual cushion to study propaganda warfare techniques using news media to propagate disinformation. This paper tends to focus on how New Delhi exercises control over news media to portray Pakistan as a failed state, a safe haven for terrorist organizations, installing anti-army information, building war hysteria in South Asia, and targeting Pakistan's stance on Kashmir and Balochistan. The paper argues that Indian news media has become a tool in the hands of the Indian political elite in generating false propaganda against Pakistan.