Suicide coverage has rules because the stakes are measured in lives: research going back to the 1970s documented that detailed reporting on suicide methods can increase subsequent deaths — the contagion effect — while coverage centered on crisis resources and recovery is associated with help-seeking. The guidance that newsrooms use worldwide, from the World Health Organization's 2017 media guidance to the recommendations built with journalism organizations, asks for specific omissions and specific inclusions. The craft is applying them under deadline, in a small newsroom, with a family on the phone.
This publication covers journalism practice; it is not mental-health advice. If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact a local crisis line or emergency services.
What comes out of the story?
The omissions are the heart of the guidance, and each exists because of documented harm:
- Method and location detail: not in the headline, not in the body. Research on contagion consistently links method detail to imitation.
- The word "commit": suicide is not a crime; "died by suicide" is the standard phrasing.
- Simplistic cause: "killed himself because he lost his job" misstates the science — multiple factors are virtually always present.
- Sensational framing and front-page prominence: placement and repetition carry risk independent of wording.
- Social media posts and notes: quoting a suicide note is discouraged, and reposting a final post spreads the same exposure.
What goes in?
Every story carries a crisis-resources box — a national or local hotline with phone and text options — placed where it is seen, not at the footer's end. Beyond that, the coverage that follows the guidance leads with the person's life rather than the death's mechanics, includes context about suicide's known risk factors, and, where possible, points to treatment and recovery. Stories about people who survived a crisis and found help are the category most associated with positive audience effects, and most underproduced.
How does a small newsroom apply this under deadline?
Write the policy before the assignment. A one-page standard, adopted at an editors' meeting, converts the hardest hour of coverage — the call about a local teenager, a beloved teacher, a public official — from improvisation into a checklist. The elements worth fixing in advance: which editor approves suicide coverage, the standard resources box with local numbers verified quarterly, the agreed language list, and the answer to the school question. Because school communities ask whether to cover a student's death at all, the desk should decide its default in calm weather: many newsrooms cover a student death briefly and respectfully, or not at all, and either default is defensible if it is a policy rather than a panic.
What about high-profile cases?
When a public figure dies by suicide, national coverage will land in every local feed regardless of the local outlet's restraint. The local application is the same guidance at local scale: no method detail, resources in every item, and — the local newsroom's particular contribution — coverage of the community's own response: the counseling hours at the school, the local crisis line's capacity, the grief support that residents can actually reach. That is the story only the local outlet can tell, and the guidance supports it.
What do reporters owe themselves?
Editors who have run these desks say the part most often skipped is the reporter. Covering a death the community is grieving, sometimes a death the reporter witnessed or a person the reporter knew, carries a real toll. Newsroom practice worth adopting: brief the reporter on the guidelines before the assignment rather than correcting after, check in afterward, and treat a reporter's request to pass the story to a colleague as a professional judgment, not a weakness.
Frequently asked questions
Do the guidelines apply to suspected suicide before confirmation?
Yes, and doubly. Before a coroner's finding, the word suicide is itself unconfirmed; report what authorities said, no method detail, resources included.
What if police release method details publicly?
What officials release is reportable; what the guidance restrains is amplification. Many outlets summarize that officials released details without repeating them — a defensible middle that serves the record and the audience's safety.
Does online coverage follow the same rules?
Yes, including headlines, push alerts, and social posts — where the guidance is most often broken by automation. Alerts about suicide should never contain method or location.
For more context, read Covering Protests: The Assignment-Desk Decisions That Keep Reporters Safe and Stories Fair.
For more context, read conflict of interest policy newsroom.
For more context, read What FOIA's Nine Exemptions Actually Let an Agency Withhold.