Suicide contagion : is the media placing the public at risk? An analysis of suicide reporting in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The media’s reporting of suicide has been shown to increase subsequent community suicide rates through a process called suicide contagion. It is not necessarily the reporting of suicide that causes suicide contagion, but rather it is the manner in which it is reported. As a result, within New Zealand a number of legislative (the Coroners Act, 2006) and industry guidelines (Reporting Suicide: A resource for the media, 2011) have been introduced to decrease any risk of suicide contagion. The aim of the present study was to investigate how suicide is portrayed in newspapers, examine whether suicide reporting has changed between two timeframes, and explore journalists’ beliefs and behaviour about suicide reporting. The present thesis is divided into two parts. Study One uses quantitative and qualitative methods to compare and contrast all suicide newspaper articles from leading New Zealand newspapers from 12 month periods in 1997 (pre-suicide guidelines) and 2009 (post-suicide guidelines). The results revealed that reporting quality had improved where there was a decrease in the occurrence of elements known to contribute to suicide contagion. However, despite reporting quality improving the study identified that articles continued to include a number of areas where suicide reporting could be improved upon. Study Two complemented Study One by interviewing journalists about their knowledge of contagion, reporting practices and barriers and difficulties in suicide reporting. The rhetorical analysis demonstrated that participants argued that evidence for suicide contagion was inconclusive and problematic. This had important implications as the media argued their reporting was to a high standard and consequently did not view reporting guidelines or the Coroners Act as necessary. As a result, participants largely avoided these restrictions and viewed them as a threat to media freedom. Together these studies demonstrated that suicide reporting quality can still be improved, however, in order to improve writing styles, implementing suicide guidelines does not appear enough. Instead, this study demonstrates that it is necessary to increase media awareness of suicide contagion, so the media understand the importance of applying reporting guidelines

A sequence of Late Quaternary deposits at Pipe Clay Lagoon, southeastern Tasmania

A record is presented of late Quaternary deposits from two sections on the Lumeah Point Peninsula, Pipe Clay Lagoon. The results permit interpretation of some of the main geomorphic events and environmental changes that have occurred during the late Last Glacial and Holocene stages. Interglacial marine deposits of sand, clayey-sand and gravels are unconformably overlain by freshwater organic sediments dated to about 25,000-20,000 BP. Pollen analysis indicates a change in vegetation from Eucalyptus forest to Eucalyptus-savannah during this time. After 22,000 BP aeolian sands began to accumulate at Site A and probably continued during the maximum of the Last Glacial stage. Once stabilised, the aeolian and adjacent marine sands were strongly podzolised during the Holocene. Aboriginal middens and thin cover sands resulting from forest clearance for agriculture by European settlers occur in and on the A\1 horizon of the podzol

When were the Walls of Jerusalem last glaciated?

There is evidence to indicate that parts of the Walls of Jerusalem National Park have been glaciated on two occasions. No evidence of earlier glaciations has been found, although at least two older periods of glaciation have been demonstrated in adjacent areas. During the last glaciation, the Rowallan Glaciation, there was an incomplete ice cover and a large ice window, centred on the West Wall-Solomons Jewels area, extended from Mt Jerusalem to Howells Bluff. Rowallan-age end moraines trace the limits of this glaciation and the main erosional effects are extensive knock and lochan landscapes, The previous glaciation, the Arm Glaciation, probably covered the entire region except for the higher parts of the West Wall. The Rowallan Glaciation reached its maximum in the Mersey Valley before 13 400 ±600 years BP, Deglaciation of the upper Mersey Valley was complete before 9760 ± 720 years BP. The Arm Glaciation is likely to be older than 130 000 years

Radiocarbon dates for Tasmania, 1956-1984

A list of radiocarbon dates from Tasmania and Macquarie Island is provided

Late Quaternary fan gravels and slope deposits at Rocky Cape, northwestern Tasmania: their palaeoenvironmental significance

The paper describes a sequence of stratified quartzite slope deposits and alluvial fan gravels from a small catchment at Rocky Cape. A lower series of indurated slope deposits overlain by a podzol soil profile suggests that cold climatic conditions, which favoured frost fracturing of exposed 13 rock surfaces and gelifluction of detritus, occurred prior to the Last Glacial Stage. An upper series of unconsolidated slope deposits contains wedge structures. These deposits appear to have resulted from frost fracturing and to have been moved downslope by gelifluction processes. The wedge structures may have been produced by seasonal freezing of the ground surface during the period of maximum cold in the Last Glacial Stage (after 22,000 and before 10,000 BP). Radiocarbon dating of charcoal and wood from organic horizons and a buried soil in the lower part of a thick sequence of alluvial fan gravels shows that they began to accumulate mainly between about 33,000 and 22,000 BP, when strong but episodic erosion of the open Eucalyptus forested catchment occurred. The upper part of the alluvial fan gravels does not contain organic horizons but probably accumulated after 22,000 and before 10,000 BP. The gravels were largely derived from the upper series of slope deposits which were formed in a non-forested environment

CARI Project Evaluation Report

This report is primarily intended for internal reporting purposes; however, it is made available in the interest of sharing our lessons learned and to inform future police-academia collaborations. Individual workstream evaluation reports may be provided upon request

Pleistocene macro-and micro-plant fossils fromRosebery, western Tasmania

Fossils of Microstrobos niphophilus and pollen in glacial lake clays that underlie till of the Penultimate Glaciation of western Tasmania indicate that an alpine heathland-herbfield environment occurred at 200 to 240 m altitude, and that the temperature was at least 4.5 to 5° C colder than at present. Charcoal in the deposits indicates that fires occurred adjacent to ice long before Man arrived in Tasmania

Associative discrimination in Britain and in the European Union: a still too elastic concept?

The concept of associative discrimination, as more recently "shaped" by the European Court of Justice (Attridge Law v Coleman), is put under a attack in this contribution, for its possibly too large "perimeter" and undefined "border".The analysis goes on to assess how the "associative" discrimination, also because unlegislated so far, may affect the employee-employer relationship and the ability of businesses to create job.Finally, the contributions offers glimpses of comparative analysis between Britain and a Continental counterpart in this matter (Italy), to infer that the Italian system might have implemented the concept at stake (associative discrimination) in a too limited way, as opposed to the British approach. The concept of associative discrimination, as more recently "shaped" by the European Court of Justice (Attridge Law v Coleman), is put under a attack in this contribution, for its possibly too large "perimeter" and undefined "border".The analysis goes on to assess how the "associative" discrimination, also because unlegislated so far, may affect the employee-employer relationship and the ability of businesses to create job.Finally, the contributions offers glimpses of comparative analysis between Britain and a Continental counterpart in this matter (Italy), to infer that the Italian system might have implemented the concept at stake (associative discrimination) in a too limited way, as opposed to the British approach

A note on air temperature lapse rates on Mount Wellington, Tasmania

Temperature lapse rates are derived from field measurements taken on Mt Wellington over a one year period. The results are compared with regional lapse rates for the state. The agreement is best with maximum temperatures in winter and minimum temperatures in summer. The agreement is poor with other combinations. This is due to oceanic and continental effects

Late Pleistocene marine molluscan faunas from four sites in Tasmania

Species lists of Late Pleistocene interglacial molluscan faunas and details of their occurrence are given for four sites in Tasmania. The faunas occur in former shallow coastal ernbayments, and inner and outer estuarine shallow water environments. All of the species are extant