When I started my career as a journalist 15 years ago, there were a few things you didn’t write about.
Suicide was number one on that list.
Unless it was an extremely well-known person or the death happened in an extremely public situation, suicide was pretty much a taboo topic in news stories.
The basis for this comes out of a couple of philosophies. The first is the potential for copycat action. There have been medical studies showing suicide rates increase when newspaper articles about suicide are published.
There was also a cloak of shame and stigma around suicide. A journalism prof once suggested to our class that a suicide carried out in the privacy of a home or other out-of-the-way location carried no real public interest and by publishing it, would do nothing more than to add to the burden of those left behind.
But the journalist’s code, like so many things in our world today, has made a dramatic shift. The stigma regarding both mental illness and suicide appears to have lessened, which in my mind is a good thing. But in the world of the instant Facebook memorial page, the community is talking about suicide, whether the newspaper is or not. Indeed, parents or loved ones affected by suicide are now more likely to contact the media directly, asking for information to be published in hopes of raising awareness and preventing others from taking similar drastic action.
We’ve had a couple of such situations in our newsroom, and it has always been difficult deciding how to handle the situation in our pages. With family support, we covered the suicide of 16-year-old Brad Jackson, also pointing to resources in the community for others to get help if they were feeling similar emotions. Since then, we have also covered awareness and prevention programs, like September’s World Suicide Prevention Day at Marine Park. There was information and sharing, followed by a remembrance ceremony for those who took their own lives.
In other cases, a teen suicide isn’t even identified as such. Readers are simply left to read an obituary that usually notes, the young person “died suddenly,” which can mean any number of things. So we currently have no real policy on how to cover suicides, except to make the best judgment we can on a case-by-case basis.
The apparent bullying-related suicide of Amanda Todd in the Lower Mainland has put the issue on the front pages. It is my hope this attention will help increase compassion and direct resources to help people who feel so desperate that taking their own life appears to be their best option.
There is help in Salmon Arm for those in need. There is a 24-hour crisis line at 1-888-353-2273 or Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868. Or if you are feeling desperate, call 911, go to the nearest emergency room or follow the emergency instructions provided by your doctor. We can no longer ignore suicide, but we can do our best to prevent it.
