Research on the news media's reporting on suicide and mental illness is understudied in Australia despite the controversial nature of much coverage and its possible consequences for a variety of audiences. This paper critiques the underlying assumptions of most international research in this area, which follows a media imitation or contagion model. The paper details the theory guiding the qualitative section of a major 18-month study of Australian media coverage of suicide and mental illness. The project will be completed in 2001. In this paper, the Australian government's media guidelines for journalists reporting on suicide are examined and, using media framing theory as a departure point, selected media coverage is assessed. The paper illustrates how the examination of media representations of suicide can inform the public policy debate. Contains 67 references and 2 notes. (Author/RS)