Mental health researchers say the Health Ministry's guidelines for media reporting of suicide are outdated.
The comments come out of a study, which was commissioned by the Ministry, looking at the way suicide cases are reported in New Zealand.
The director of the National Centre of Mental Health Research Dr Brian McKenna, who led the project, says international studies have shown that media coverage of suicides can trigger copy-cat behaviour.
But, he says, while researchers found media are generally responsible and avoid sensationalist headlines and gratuitous details, the Government's current guidelines aren't specific enough.
Dr McKenna says that, for instance, it's difficult to define what is meant by the requirement to avoid normalising suicide.
He says current guidelines also fail to differentiate between types of media, particularly the online news.
Dr McKenna also says the media could do better in providing information to help people struggling with suicidal thoughts.
And he says incidents involving celebrities or firearms tend to get huge media coverage, whereas the much larger problem of self-harm and the higher incidence of suicide among Maori get little attention.
The study found that suicide rates for Maori are about one and a half times the rate of non-Maori.
However, Dr McKenna, says cultural advisers have told him it is better not to report such figures.
