Suicide and the Media: The New York times's Presentation of Front-Page Suicide Stories between 1910 and 1920

Abstract

Between 1913 and 1914 The New York Times presented a record number of front-page suicide stories. This study is concerned with analyzing a range of factors that might have contributed to this hyper coverage. Employing a time-series model, and examining monthly coverage of suicide stories between 1910 and 1920, the authors found that hyper coverage was not caused by increased suicide in the city or nation but was generated by a dynamic combination of institutional and human factors. Further analysis of New York Times editorials suggests support for the thesis that the editor acted as a moral entrepreneur. The paper's editorials were concerned with suicide as a threat to urban civilization, a common moral theme during the “progressive era.” A similar analysis for the depression era, 1929–1939, showed no hyper coverage, and again found that the level of coverage was unrelated to actual suicide figures in the city and nation. The study concludes that suicide is a private event that is usually not examined by The New York Times on the front page and that media coverage of suicide is unrelated to the incidence of suicide in the real world.

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