© British Medical Journal 2003. Volume 326(7387), 1 March 2003, p 499 Media influence on suicide : Media's role is double edged Chan, Kathy P M adjunct associate professor1; Lee, Dominic T S associate professor2; Lee, Sing professor2; Yip, Paul S F director3 1chanpm@ha.org.hk 2Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China 3Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Editor—The alarming escalation of charcoal burning suicide in Hong Kong supports Hawton and Williams's call for guidelines on the reporting of suicide. 1 We previously reported on the emergence of this new method of suicide in Hong Kong. 2 In November 1998 a 35 year old woman committed suicide by burning charcoal in a barbeque grill in her sealed and cramped apartment. Compared with jumping, which accounts for most local suicide deaths, suicide by burning charcoal was romanticised as an easy and comfortable way of dying. The incident was pictorially reported in the media. Two months after its appearance charcoal burning became the third commonest method of suicide in Hong Kong, where carbon monoxide poisoning was previously uncommon. 2 In 2001 it replaced hanging as the second commonest method of suicide, accounting for 25% of all deaths from suicide. People committing suicide by charcoal burning were often middle aged and were portrayed as debt ridden because Hong Kong was experiencing its first recession after two decades of economic boom. Charcoal burning was represented as a legitimate way out of the person's financial predicaments. Our coroner's court findings were highly consistent with these media representations. 2 The influence of the media on suicide is contentious and has not been taken seriously in public health. 3 4 In the case of suicide by charcoal burning in Hong Kong, concerns have been raised by researchers and healthcare workers about the potentially contagious impact of media reporting. However, news editors have expressed reservations and remain unconvinced about the guidelines published by the World Health Organization on suicide reporting. The first suicide intervention and prevention centre in China, funded by the Chinese government, was opened in December in Beijing. Media publicity was rightly adopted as one of the key strategies for raising public awareness. 5 None the less, given that the handy use of pesticides claimed most of the suicide deaths in rural China, the possible effect of such publicity deserves monitoring too. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19