The Number and Characteristics of Newspaper and Twitter Reports on Suicides and Road Traffic Deaths in Young People

Abstract

In the light of concern about the harmful effects of media reporting of suicides and a lack of comparative research, this study compares the number and characteristics of reports on suicides and road traffic accidents (RTAs) in young people (aged 11–18) in newspapers and Twitter during a 6-month period. Tweets about young people’s suicides were more numerous than newspaper reports. Twitter and newspaper reports were more strongly correlated for suicides than for RTAs. Recent suicides were less likely to be reported in newspapers than recent deaths by RTA. Bullying-related suicides were especially newsworthy. Suicide prevention organizations should consider routinely monitoring social media reporting.