The Need for Suicide Sensitive Journalism

1. The Need for Suicide Sensitive Journalism Sunanda Deshapriya Head Media Unit Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)

2. Study on Reporting of Suicides in Mainstream Media Conducted in March 2003

3. Important Points • The tendency towards an extreme sensationalism when reporting suicides is evident. • Media in Sri Lanka, while cognisant of this, seems unable or unwilling to explore the root causes of suicides. This inability or unwillingness has resulted in a media which is numb to the effects of sensational and irresponsible reporting. Articles which deal with the complex issues surrounding suicides are extremely rare. • Every single article on suicides in the newspapers monitored clearly stated the method used in the particular suicide. • Mainstream media show no interest in exploring series of events that led to the suicide and instead explain the suicide as a result of a single event or at best, a simplistic chain of events.

4. Important Points • The Coroner’s Reports of Police Reports are the primary sources of information for media reports on suicide. It is almost impossible to find any article in the mainstream media reporting on suicides that goes beyond these primary sources of information, and examines the causes for the suicide in an analytical perspective. • The main methods attributed to suicides are the intake of pesticides, hanging or jumping in front of an oncoming train. A majority of reports on suicide attribute the cause of death to one of these three factors. • Many of the reports clearly explain the method used in the suicide or suicide attempt. The name of the pesticide, the location, the detailed method, the ingredients of a fatal concoction are all laid bare, with little or no understanding of the effects of such reporting. These details could have easily been taken out of the reports.

5. Important Points • Another clear tendency is for articles on suicide to report the ostensible • cause and method in the headline itself. This has the undesirable effect of • promoting suicide as a solution to certain problems. For instance: “Man commits suicide because his wife left him” “Student takes cyanide and dies because her friends got to know about her secret love affair” “Woman commits suicide because husband abuses her” “Mother kills child and then takes poison herself” “Wife poisons children and then commits suicide herself because husband suspected her of infidelity” “Lover takes poison after argument”

6. Myth People who talk about suicide do not commit suicide. Fact Most people who commit suicide have talked about or given definite warning signs of their suicidal intentions. Myths Myth Suicide happens without warning. Fact There are almost always warning signs, but others are often unaware of the significance of the warnings or unsure about what to do. Myth Suicidal people are fully intent on dying. Nothing others do or say can help. Fact Suicide is preventable. Most suicidal people desperately want to live; they are just unable to see alternatives to their problems.

7. Myth Improvement after a suicidal crisis means that the risk of suicide is over. Fact Many suicides occur several months after the beginning of improvement, when a person has energy to act on suicidal thoughts. Myths Myth Once someone is suicidal, they are suicidal forever. Fact Most suicidal people are suicidal for only limited periods of time. However, someone who has made an attempt is at increased risk for future attempts. Myth Suicide strikes most often among the rich, or conversely, among the poor. Fact Suicide cuts across social and economic boundaries.

8. Guidelines for Media Avoid presenting simplistic explanations for suicide Coverage that simply reports the incident of a suicide can promote contagion Alternative approaches that investigate the "story behind the story" should be considered. Take care not "sensationalize" coverage So-called sensational coverage can be minimized by limiting morbid details of a suicide and avoiding the use of dramatic photographs. Avoid "how-to" descriptions of suicide Technical details about the method of suicide used in a particular incident may lead to imitation by others who are considering suicide.

9. Guidelines for Media Take care not to position a suicide as a means for accomplishing certain ends Some news reports have presented suicide as a coping strategy, which can prompt suicidal youth to view death as an attractive solution. Avoid "glorifying" the incident Contagion also can result when an individual's suicide leads to prominent coverage of eulogies or memorials. Be aware that suicide coverage often emphasizes the victim's positive characteristics To put a suicide within context, it is important to note the victim's problems in addition to the positive aspects of his or her life.

10. Guidelines for Media Confidentiality As is customary, follow your standard practices of confidentiality regarding individuals and their "real stories."

11. Further Information • Download a copy of our report when it is complete (two weeks) • Visit these websites: • http://www.asc.upenn.edu/test/suicide/web/3.html • http://www.asc.upenn.edu/test/suicide/web/3.html • http://www.211bigbend.org/hotlines/suicide/media.htm • www.samaritans.org • www.ifj.org • Or search Google using ‘Suicide Sensitive Journalism’

12. What can you do? How do you think the media can report suicides sensitively? What can you do to help this?

13. Thank you ! For further information, please contact: Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) 24/2, 28th Lane, off Flower Road, Colombo 7 Tel: 565304/6 Fax: 074-714460 Email: cpa@sri.lanka.net