A PRELIMINARY STUDY ONPRESENTATION STYLE OF SUICIDE NEWS ON INTERNET IN TURKEY

Aim: It has been reported that presentation style of suicide news in media is associated with an increased risk of suicide. The aim of this study is to investigate the presentation of news related to suicide in Turkey. Method: In this study suicide news which were reported on internet between 2016 and 2017 were analysed. The suicide news are subjected to content analysis on the basis of the guideline which was prepared by the World Health Organization for media workers to provide recommendations on presentation style of suicide news. Within this context, in this study the headlines and content of suicide news were focused on. The content of suicide news was coded and categorized according to whether it informs the society or not. Results: A total of 106 suicide news, which were reported between 2016 and 2017, were scanned and when the headlines of this news were coded according to WHO recommendations, it was found out that 98 of them were "inappropriate" (92%) and 8 were found to be "appropriate" (8%) .Although the word of suicide was not used in 7 of 98 "inappropriate" headlines (7%), it was seen that the method and/or place used for commiting suicide were/was clearly defined. Conclusion: Results of the study demonstrated that there is a need for preparing a media guideline for Turkish media containing the reporting criteria of suicide news or at least there is a need for complying with WHO recommendations for reporting style of suicides in medi