https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764020903334 International Journal of Social Psychiatry 1–4 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0020764020903334 journals.sagepub.com/home/isp E CAMDEN SCHIZOPH Introduction The global incidence of suicides is at a very alarming stage (Fu et al., 2011; Shah et al., 2017). It is estimated that approximately 800,000 people die from suicide every year (World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). The news report of suicide, either in printed or online newspaper, can trigger the readers’ attitude toward suicidal behaviors (Niederkrotenthaler et al., 2009; Pirkis, 2009) or increases people’s desire to die by suicide (Fu et al., 2011; Khan & Reza, 2005; Stack, 2002; Twenge et al., 2018). The Werther effect, the phenomenon where suicide rates increase fol- lowing the depiction of individual suicide in media, has been found in many countries (Sisask & Varnik, 2012). To anticipate the enormous consequences of the Werther effect, promoting media reporting guidelines to journalists is important as it can alter the way they report suicide news (Fu & Yip, 2008). There are no national data for suicide rate in Indonesia. However, an average of 24 deaths from suicide per 100,000 population, or 50,000 suicide cases per year, or 1,500 cases per day on average was estimated (Wirasto, 2012). A study among Indonesian students found a lifetime rate of 38% who had at least one intentional self-injury (Tresno et al., 2012). Another study found approximately 4.8% of Indonesian students have ever considered committing sui- cide while more than half of them (53.5%) made a suicide plan (Lie & Liou, 2012). No further study existed with regard to the epidemiological data of suicide neither among Indonesian adult nor among Indonesian elderly. In the year 2000, the WHO launched a media guideline for suicide prevention. Several points were raised in this guideline. It encourages media professionals to avoid lan- guage that normalizes suicide or considers it as a solution to problems, to avoid prominent placement and excessive repetition stories about suicide, to avoid explicit descrip- tion of the method used in suicide, to avoid providing detailed information about the site of a suicide, to be Indonesian online newspaper reporting of suicidal behavior: Compliance with World Health Organization media guidelines Nazriatun Nisa 1 , Muhammad Arifin 1 , Muhammad Fauzan Nur 1 , Shylvana Adella 1 and Marthoenis Marthoenis 2 Abstract Background: Despite the lack of attention, suicide is a major public and mental health problem in Indonesia. Research on how Indonesian newspapers portray suicide case has been lacking. Aim: To assess the quality of Indonesian online newspaper reporting suicide news and its compliance with the World Health Organization (WHO) mass media reporting guidelines. Methods: The content of suicide news reported in online newspapers was searched and scrutinized against the WHO suicide reporting guidelines. Results: Within the duration of 6 months, there were 548 suicide news reported. This consisted of 16.8% attempted suicide and 83.2% completed suicide. Approximately 90.3% reported age, 97.3% reported gender and 64.3% reported the marital status of the victims. Furthermore, 68% reported the methods of suicide in headline or title, 40.5% shown the picture of the victims and 56.6% shown illustration only, and 67.2% reported life event related to suicide act. Conclusion: The vast majority of online newspapers in Indonesia exaggerate suicide news. They rarely inform the readers that there is hope and help available. The majority also do not conform to the WHO media guidelines. Keywords Suicide, media reporting, content analysis, WHO guidelines 1 Master Program of Disaster Management, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia 2 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Nursing, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia Corresponding author: Marthoenis Marthoenis, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Nursing, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh 23111, Indonesia. Email: marthoenis@unsyiah.ac.id 903334ISP 0 0 10.1177/0020764020903334International Journal of Social PsychiatryNisa et al. research-article 2020 Original Article