Exploring drought and suicide framing in Indian newspaper articles

Newspapers play an important role in awareness-raising and influence public perception. An exploration of the association between climate change (drought) and mental health (suicide) in Indian newspaper articles was needed. Data consisted of 55 newspaper articles from four online Indian English-language newspapers published between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2019. Articles were thematically analysed incorporating an abductive frame analysis. The association between drought and suicide in the reporting was framed as: (i) primarily affecting male farmers, (ii) drought leading to suicide through livelihood disruption, (iii) government responsibility for livelihood disruption, and (iv) drought and suicide being a hopeless case with no solution. Episodic and thematic framing were used to a similar extent. There was no reference to climate change. The framing might limit individual coping and adaptive capacities. The selected newspaper articles portrayal of suicide and drought might limit the public’s support for sustainable solutions to address mental health issues in the context of a changing climate.