Framing Youth Suicide in a Multi-Mediated World: the Construction of the Bridgend Problem in the British National Press
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City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Akrivos, Dimitrios (2015). Framing youth suicide in a multi-mediated world: the construction of the Bridgend problem in the British national press. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/13648/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] FRAMING YOUTH SUICIDE IN A MULTI-MEDIATED WORLD THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE BRIDGEND PROBLEM IN THE BRITISH NATIONAL PRESS DIMITRIOS AKRIVOS PhD Thesis CITY UNIVERSITY LONDON DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 2015 THE FOLLOWING PARTS OF THIS THESIS HAVE BEEN REDACTED FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS: p15, Fig 1.1 p214, Fig 8.8 p16, Fig 1.2 p216, Fig 8.9 p17, Fig 1.3 p253, Fig 9.5 p18, Fig 1.4 p258, Fig 9.6 p90, Fig 4.1 p91, Fig 4.2 p94, Table 4.C p95, Fig 4.4 p97, Fig 4.5 p97, Fig 4.6 p98, Fig 4.7 p99, Fig 4.8 p101, Fig 4.9 p103, Fig 4.10 p109, Fig 5.4 p111, Fig 5.5 p113, Fig 5.6 p116, Fig 5.7 p117, Fig 5.8 p125, Fig 5.10 p140, Fig 6.5 p140, Fig 6.6 p141, Fig 6.7 p142, Fig 6.8 p143, Fig 6.9 p159, Fig 6.15 p162, Fig 6.16 p166, Fig 6.18 p167, Fig 6.19 p174, Fig 7.4 p174, Fig 7.5 p175, Fig 7.6 p178, Fig 7.8 p179, Fig 7.9 p180, Fig 7.10 p184, Fig 7.11 p186, Fig 7.12 p186, Fig 7.13 p186, Fig 7.14 p201, Fig 7.22 1 Table of Contents List of Tables and Figures ............................................................................................................................ 5 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER ONE: Introduction: The Bridgend suicide phenomenon of 2008 or how to raise new concern over an old condition .................................................................................................................. 11 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 11 1. Bridgend as a case study of suicide reporting ..................................................................................... 11 2. Setting the scene ...................................................................................................................................... 15 3. Bridgend’s youth suicide rate ................................................................................................................ 16 4. Research question and aims of the thesis ............................................................................................ 18 5. Outline of the thesis’ structure.............................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER TWO: Making sense of suicide in a multi-mediated world ............................................ 23 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 23 SECTION A ................................................................................................................................................ 24 Understanding suicide: a personal or social affair? ................................................................................ 24 1. Suicide as a product of psychological pain .......................................................................................... 24 2. Durkheim’s sociological approach and the limitations of official suicide statistics...................... 25 3. Imitation ................................................................................................................................................... 27 4. The Internet and suicidal behaviour .................................................................................................... 31 5. Deprivation and the strains of modern existence .............................................................................. 34 SECTION B ................................................................................................................................................ 38 Assessing the media’s role in the social problems game ....................................................................... 38 1. A constructionist approach ................................................................................................................... 38 2. Problem framing ..................................................................................................................................... 38 3. Constructing a powerful news story/Constructing a social problem ............................................. 42 A. A rhetorical exercise .......................................................................................................................... 42 B. The media as active constructors of social problems .................................................................. 48 4. Media constructions of the suicide problem....................................................................................... 53 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER THREE: Methodology ......................................................................................................... 59 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 59 1. A case study design ................................................................................................................................. 59 2. Data collection and analysis ................................................................................................................... 63 A. Collection of Bridgend-related news reports ................................................................................ 63 B. A qualitative content analysis with quantitative components ..................................................... 69 2 C. Contextualising the Bridgend phenomenon .................................................................................. 76 C. I. In-depth interviews ................................................................................................................... 77 C. II. Consultation of statistical and policy reports ...................................................................... 80 D. Research ethics: the road from commitment to fulfillment ....................................................... 81 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 84 CHAPTER FOUR: The road to national news prominence and the newsworthiness of the Bridgend story .............................................................................................................................................. 86 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 86 1. Searching for the roots of the national press’ interest in Bridgend ................................................ 87 A. Bridgend suicides in the national press before January 23, 2008 ............................................... 87 B. Bridgend suicides in the local press before January 23, 2008 ..................................................... 88 B. I. A Wales-wide problem ............................................................................................................. 88 B. II. A Bridgend problem? .............................................................................................................. 89 2. The transition from local to national news ......................................................................................... 92 3. Newsworthiness of the overall Bridgend narrative ........................................................................... 99 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 104 CHAPTER FIVE: The Internet suicide cult? ..................................................................................... 106 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 106