Irresponsible news presentation may trigger suicidal tendency: Experts

Tendency among people to commit suicide may increase with irresponsible news presentation in media, mental health experts have said.

On average, 28 persons commit suicide every day in Bangladesh, data shows. 

"Media has to play a role in preventing suicide by not publishing the suicide reports on the first page or at any important space," Helal Uddin Ahmed, associate professor at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), told a programme on 'Responsible Reporting on Suicide'  on Sunday at NIMH in Dhaka.

In his keynote presentation, Dr Helal also said that there should not be any message in the headlines which suggests that suicide is a solution to any problem. Besides, there should not be any description of how anyone has committed suicide and no mention of what type of medicine did anyone use etc. It may help another person commit suicide successfully. 

Dr Shahidul Islam, programme manager, non-communicable disease (NCD) control at the Directorate General of Health Services said that the tendency to commit suicide is on the rise.

In presenting news on suicide, there is a policy of the World Health Organisation (WHO) which implies that the word 'suicide' should be avoided in the headlines. It is not possible to implement this in mass media overnight but it should be reduced gradually, he added.

According to the data of NIMH, over 10,000 people had committed suicide in 2019 which has risen to 14,436 in 2020.