Global media compliance with WHO guidelines on suicide reporting: A systematic literature review

This systematic literature review examines cross-national media compliance with the World Health Organization (WHO) suicide-reporting guidelines, which have served as a global ethical standard since 2000. Although many countries have adopted these guidelines, studies across diverse national contexts continue to document recurring challenges in journalistic practice. Using the PRISMA framework, this review synthesizes findings from 66 studies across six WHO regions. WHO guideline items were operationalized into measurable indicators representing both the “don'ts” and the “do's,” and each study was coded to identify which components of the guidelines were assessed. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and the number of studies per indicator) were calculated to map global patterns of adherence and non-adherence. The findings show that non-compliance with WHO “don'ts” is widespread, with rates commonly ranging from 10 % to over 80 % across indicators. In contrast, compliance with WHO-recommended “do's” is extremely low, typically ranging from 2 % to 25 %, indicating that positive and preventive reporting practices remain minimally implemented. These results suggest that, despite two decades of sustained international advocacy, ethical suicide-reporting principles have not yet been effectively institutionalized within many media systems.