Implementation of World Health Organisation's Guidelines in Nigerian Newspaper Coverage of Suicides (2019-2022)

Over 800,000 people commit suicide each year, according to the World Health Organisation. The World Health Organisation also stresses that the impact on families, friends, and communities is devastating and far-reaching, even long after loved ones commit suicide. Hence, the World Health Organisation recommends appropriate media coverage of suicidal conduct to avoid suicide. The suicide-reporting guidelines try to decrease sensationalism and suicide and protect sensitive minds from information that may inspire suicides by describing the suicide or its method or place. Thus, Nigerian newspapers' improper suicide reporting and open contempt for WHO norms are growing concerns. Thus, this study examined Nigerian newspapers' compliance with WHO suicide coverage guidelines. The aim of this study was to assess Nigerian newspapers’ compliance with the World Health Organisation’s guidelines for the coverage of suicide. The specific objectives, among others, were to assess the extent to which Nigerian newspapers give prominence to suicide reports. The study adopted the content analysis method. This study only included the six newspapers selected for the study: The Punch, Daily Sun, ThisDay, Vanguard, The Tide, and the Nigerian Observer. We analysed all six newspaper editions from July 2019 to June 2022. We studied 5,304 issues of the six newspapers from July 2019 to June 2022. Four private daily newspapers published 7,52 times a week, resulting in 4,368 (82%) editions. The Tide and Nigerian Observer have 936 (18%) issues after publishing three times a week. The research period saw 5,304 issues from the six newspapers. We obtained the data using a coding sheet. Finally, the study concluded that the newspapers breached the World Health Organisation's media guidelines for responsible suicide reporting. Press reports on suicide indicate infractions. The findings showed newspapers breached the guidelines.