Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012, 9 128 Etzersdorfer & Sonneck 1998 [42] Chung & Leung 2001 [44] Etzersdorfer et al. 2001 [45] Pirkis & Blood 2001 [46] Austria Research Hong Kong Research Austria Research Several Systematic review Actual suicidal behaviour SOURCE Stack 1996 [41] COUNTRY Japan Table 1. Cont. ARTICLE TYPE Research OUTCOME MEASURE Suicides Stack 2000 [43] Several Meta- Analysis Stack 2002 [47] Several Stack 2003 [48] Several Meta- Analysis Meta- Analysis Etzersdorfer et al. 2004 [49] Austria Research Hittner 2005 [50] USA Research Suicides Subway suicides and suicide attempts Suicides Suicides by charcoal burning Suicides Suicides Suicides Suicides by firearm MAIN FINDINGS There is a media-suicide linkage similar in magnitude to that reported in the USA, but imitative effect is restricted to stories about Japanese suicides Number of subway suicides and suicide attempts dropped after media guidelines were developed and media campaign launched The greater the amount of media coverage on suicide the greater the increase in suicide rate, especially if celebrity suicides and non-fictional stories were reported in newspapers Charcoal burning suicides became more prevalent because it was highly publicized The overall number of suicides increased slightly, but suicides by firearm significantly after news of celebrity suicide by gun were reported There is an association between suicidal behaviour and media reporting, which satisfies sufficient of the criteria to be deemed causal The greater the amount of media coverage on suicide the greater the increase in suicide rate, especially if celebrity suicides and non-fictional stories were reported in newspapers The greater the amount of media coverage on suicide the greater the increase in suicide rate, especially if celebrity suicides and non-fictional stories were reported in newspapers The number of suicides by firearm increased after the reporting of celebrity suicide by gun A re-analysis of two classic research articles on media influence provided only partial support for the Werther effect