title: A study on the mutual causation of suicide reporting and suicide incidences.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little research has been done on the complex relationships between the effect of news reporting on suicide incidence and vice versa (i.e., mutual causation). Furthermore, few studies have examined whether the entry of a new media outlet into a market changes the media dynamics in that market.
  
  
  METHODS
  A recursive two-way feedback model was used to test for mutual causation between suicide reporting and suicide incidence on a daily basis. We applied the model to examine the effect of the arrival of the Apple Daily (AD) newspaper in Taiwan and whether its suicide reporting affected the suicide incidence and suicide reporting of two other newspapers, the United Daily (UD) and the China Times (CT).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The AD's entry into Taiwan led to a major shift in the relationship between suicide incidence and suicide reporting. The AD stimulated more suicide coverage by the UD and the CT the following day; conversely, the UD and the CT had no such impact on the AD. Before the entry of the AD, there was little correlation between daily suicide incidence and suicide reporting, but the suicide reporting of the UD and CT correlated significantly with daily suicide incidence after the entry of the AD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Media impact was assessed by number of news items; detailed content analysis of the reporting was not conducted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The vicious business competition facing new dailies in Taiwan's media market has changed the mass media ecology. Efforts to prevent suicide by regulating the media should closely monitor not only the behavior of newcomers, but also the established news media's reaction to new competitors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Paul S F
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Yip
authors.forename: Simon Sai Man
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiaochen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ying-Yeh
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009524:Newspapers as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors