Suicide and the Media?

dreamers75 · 13-03-2011 12:15AM #1

Strange one suppose best for After Hours, in recent times the Media has decided to blanket ban any reporting of Suicides in this country.

I know of quite a few people who have topped themselves in the last 2 years all young around the 14-18 age all in secondary schools. (one today which noone will ever hear about

)

Why has the media just stopped reporting it? Is reporting it not hightlighting the issue and giving people who may lean towards it some sort of reason not to?

its like the sweep it under the carpet but by doing that it means possibly one more will do it. calling it a "tragedy" just doest work, call it as it is and it may save one life in the future.

Jesus Wept · 13-03-2011 12:18AM

A line of thought is that reporting of suicides lead to more suicides.
I imagine this is why it is under reported.
Whether there is merit to this line of thought or not, I don't know.

Not reporting it and having sh1it mental health care and attitudes is certainly not the way forward.

jumpguy · 13-03-2011 12:21AM

The-Rigger wrote: »

A line of thought is that reporting of suicides lead to more suicides.
I imagine this is why it is under reported.
Whether there is merit to this line of thought or not, I don't know.

Not reporting it and having sh1it mental health care and attitudes is certainly not the way forward.

Either that, or it's deemed disrespectful.

Excellent response to the problem - ignore it and maybe it'll go away. :rolleyes:

Oranage2 · 13-03-2011 12:21AM

There should deffinetly be information about mental health - Suicide is the saddest thing I've ever seen!

DailyBlaa · 13-03-2011 12:22AM

They should be reporting it, more dead due to suicide than road accidents. Yet all they they do is bang on about how we should be doing more to stop deaths on the roads, e.g NCT, speed cameras, etc.

I have lost a two friends over the years due to it. It is true what they say you can't tell. One friend I only talked to him a few hours before he died. We were planning going to a local event in a few days time. There were no apparent signs what an awful shame.

foxinsox · 13-03-2011 12:22AM

I would imagine that the media might be following the wishes of the bereaved family. That could be one scenario.

or is not always clear that a death was a suicide until an inquest.

Suicide has happened a lot and I'd be pretty sure that everybody has had personal experience of it in some form or another.

Whether the media do or do not publish it as such, I personally don't think would have any significant impact on the numbers.

faw1tytowers · 13-03-2011 12:23AM

Hmm this is bizzarre. In the area I live in 3 youths have committed suicide in as many months and before that many others. But since then A polititian Roche(whos son sadly was one of the mentioned) has been trying to campaign about the stigma of suicide. I have noticed more signs and 'help' cards in local shops. But this I am shocked at. Maybe it is true though that what is happening is it is becoming a trend and less publicity of actual suicides might be better?

dreamers75 · 13-03-2011 12:23AM

I dont agree with the hiding it part? fairly sure everyone here knows someone or knows of someone affected by it.

But yet its been deemed unreportable by the media, last one i read about was some alleged famous guy in a field with a shotgun, they called it a tragedy?

stupidusername · 13-03-2011 12:23AM

Don't think it's a matter of disrespect, I'm fairly sure that it's not reported because of this idea it's going to lead to more. thought I'm also fairly sure this idea has been, what's the word... debunked..? I think if it was to be reported more it would highlight what a problem depression actually is in this country and would mean more people could talk about it, and probably lead to less suicides over all.

Yakult · 13-03-2011 12:25AM

It should be tackled in school first off. Not once when I was in secondry school did anyone from Mental health Ireland (dont know official name) visit the school to talk about it. No posters, nothing.
Its like they are too afraid to approach the subject which sets a terrible example i.e young people not being able to talk about it.

Maybe its different for other schools.

As for the media reporting suicides? I think it would be a insensitive. Maybe they should be promoting help lines or just encouraging people to try and talk.

dreamers75 · 13-03-2011 12:26AM

stupidusername wrote: »

Don't think it's a matter of disrespect, I'm fairly sure that it's not reported because of this idea it's going to lead to more. thought I'm also fairly sure this idea has been, what's the word... debunked..? I think if it was to be reported more it would highlight what a problem depression actually is in this country and would mean more people could talk about it, and probably lead to less suicides over all.

Along with that maybe it would show the potential suicidee the devastation they about to bring to their family < this part i think would help if reported in the media.

I think families think if one of or their own commits suicide its their fault and feel shamed by it.

geetar · 13-03-2011 12:27AM

i think not reporting it is also out of respect for the families. my extended family experienced a suicide, and the media was an absolute disgrace. it stayed in the papers for far too long, and made it very painful for everyone.

stupidusername · 13-03-2011 12:29AM

Yakult wrote: »

It should be tackled in school first off. Not once when I was in secondry school did anyone from Mental health Ireland (dont know official name) visit the school to talk about it. No posters, nothing.
Its like they are too afraid to approach the subject which sets a terrible example i.e young people not being able to talk about it.

Maybe its different for other schools.

As for the media reporting suicides? I think it would be a insensitive. Maybe they should be promoting help lines or just encouraging people to try and talk.

I don't ever remember being spoken to about mental health. sure I didn't know what depression was until I was diagnosed myself. same as sexual education, never a word said to us in school about anything.

dreamers75 wrote: »

Along with that maybe it would show the potential suicidee the devastation they about to bring to their family < this part i think would help if reported in the media.

I think families think if one of or their own commits suicide its their fault and feel shamed by it.

Well I don't agree with this but yeah ok. I mean how the person is feeling is the most important part here, not how many people they're going to affect.

galwayrush · 13-03-2011 12:29AM

They went a step further in Germany some time back, they banned public funerals for suicides, apparently they had a very high number of people taking their own lives so they decided that public funerals were somehwhat making the victims into a type of hero , even if it was only for a day. After they banned the public funerals, the numbers dropped significantly.

Mrmoe · 13-03-2011 12:29AM

I would say most often they can't report the cause of death until it is confirmed by a coroner unless it is exceedingly obvious. When they do confirm it it usually isn't newsworthy for them to report it.:mad:

im invisible · 13-03-2011 12:30AM

i remember 10 or more years ago a friend of a friend, and a cousin of mine, commited suicide close enough to the same time. they didnt know each other. I heard about 500 people a year kill themselves, thats around 10 a week, we never hear of the vast majority of these, and we never will

hondasam · 13-03-2011 12:31AM

galwayrush wrote: »

They went a step further in Germany some time back, they banned public funerals for suicides, apparently they had a very high number of people taking their own lives so they decided that public funerals were somehwhat making the victims into a type of hero , even if it was only for a day. After they banned the public funerals, the numbers dropped significantly.

I think this would be a very good idea if it happened here.

dreamers75 · 13-03-2011 12:33AM

stupidusername wrote: »

Well I don't agree with this but yeah ok. I mean how the person is feeling is the most important part here, not how many people they're going to affect.

from my knowledge people do from feeling alone, if they seen the devastation they about to cause they wouldnt feel alone.

Im aware there may be circumstantial issues at the time they do it.

I would have strong feelings towards not doing it.

Pauleta · 13-03-2011 12:33AM

I think the whole thing comes from the Bridgend Suicides in Wales.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgend_suicide_incidents

foxinsox · 13-03-2011 12:35AM

The topic of this thread made me wonder about it..

So I found this from World Health Organisation (WHO)

http://cebmh.warne.ox.ac.uk/csr/images/WHO%20media%20guidelines.pdf

See page 5

stupidusername · 13-03-2011 12:35AM

im invisible wrote: »

i remember 10 or more years ago a friend of a friend, and a cousin of mine, commited suicide close enough to the same time. they didnt know each other. I heard about 500 people a year kill themselves, thats around 10 a week, we never hear of the vast majority of these, and we never will

and still there isn't wide spread knowledge about depression / mental illnesses or about the treatments or help that's available. I mean does anyone here know if you did suffer from depression, what would you do? What services do you think are available? What are your options? I think it's about time Ireland came out of this era of hiding how you feel. nothing will get better just by putting some ads up every few months saying things like 'it's your mental health, look after it'.

Jesus Wept · 13-03-2011 12:36AM

galwayrush wrote: »

They went a step further in Germany some time back, they banned public funerals for suicides, apparently they had a very high number of people taking their own lives so they decided that public funerals were somehwhat making the victims into a type of hero , even if it was only for a day. After they banned the public funerals, the numbers dropped significantly.

I think people have a right to a public funeral if it was their wish or families tbh.
It's a pretty backward way to tackle the problem.

Rather than wasting time in school teaching children about useless sh1t most of the time, they ought to be taught about life, and how to live and handle what it will throw at you.

Standman · 13-03-2011 12:38AM

Seems the only way a suicide gets reported is if they kill a whole bunch of other people first, don't see the media self censoring when those kind of things happen.

stupidusername · 13-03-2011 12:38AM

yeah, I mean obviously I can't say for sure how many, but I can't imagine there are that many people that kill themselves that think they'll be seen as a hero etc etc. I find it hard to believe disallowing public funerals for these people would make any significant difference.

Millicent · 13-03-2011 12:42AM

The-Rigger wrote: »

A line of thought is that reporting of suicides lead to more suicides.
I imagine this is why it is under reported.
Whether there is merit to this line of thought or not, I don't know.

Not reporting it and having sh1it mental health care and attitudes is certainly not the way forward.

There's been a few cases reported of the cluster effect of suicides. It surprised me but it's a valid phenomenon and interested reading. Good article here.

hondasam · 13-03-2011 12:42AM

I'm not saying no public funeral just smaller family and close friends funerals.

Aoifey! · 13-03-2011 12:46AM

On the one hand it could help other people who are thinking of commiting suicide by showing the effect it has on others and that there are others options out there.

But then again, there is also the matter of family and friends not wanting it to be reported and having to see it on every paper. Even if the family give permission, friends and loved ones who are not immediate family may not want it to be everywhere.

Recently there was a case of a young woman who commited suicide, her boyfriend then commited suicide soon after by her grave. This was plastered on local papers and the media took advantage of it by talking how it was so romantic. I know a friend of these people. They did not consider it romantic, they considered it a horrible loss if 2 of their close friends.

stupidusername · 13-03-2011 12:46AM

Millicent wrote: »

There's been a few cases reported of the cluster effect of suicides. It surprised me but it's a valid phenomenon and interested reading. Good article here.

I'll have a look at that tomorrow. but right well let's say that it is a genuine concern, is it a matter of numbers then? I mean if the amount of people committing suicide because of 'advertising' suicide numbers every year is less than the amount of people saved by 'advertising' the figures, is it worth it? hard to put that in a way that doesn't offend people, but I hope ye get what I'm getting at.

Millicent · 13-03-2011 12:51AM

stupidusername wrote: »

I'll have a look at that tomorrow. but right well let's say that it is a genuine concern, is it a matter of numbers then? I mean if the amount of people committing suicide because of 'advertising' suicide numbers every year is less than the amount of people saved by 'advertising' the figures, is it worth it? hard to put that in a way that doesn't offend people, but I hope ye get what I'm getting at.

Oh, I absolutely get what you're saying.

But, from the link (American study):

"Suicides following the exposure to someone's death by suicide, was about two to four times higher among 15- to 19-year-olds than [in] other age groups," Gould says.

That's an absolutely shocking figure. Then, when you consider the Brigend case that Pauleta linked to, you have 24 suicides in a small area, that may be down to this cluster effect.

While I believe mental health education is really important and I'd hate to think that suicide was being stigmatised, I can actually see the reasoning for this decision, and I don't say that lightly as a wannabe journalist. Of course, that is contingent on whether the mumbers would be more with media coverage or without, but I'd expect with the cluster phenomenon, it'd definitely be more.

CluelessGirl · 13-03-2011 12:55AM

I think a massive impact would be for survivors of suicide to speak out.

Are they glad they survived?

What was going on in their minds at the time.

Etc........

I think that would be helpful.

I know it would be for me.

Emotional health really needs to be tackled.

faw1tytowers · 13-03-2011 12:58AM

Aoifey! wrote: »

On the one hand it could help other people who are thinking of commiting suicide by showing the effect it has on others and that there are others options out there.

But then again, there is also the matter of family and friends not wanting it to be reported and having to see it on every paper. Even if the family give permission, friends and loved ones who are not immediate family may not want it to be everywhere.

Recently there was a case of a young woman who commited suicide, her boyfriend then commited suicide soon after by her grave. This was plastered on local papers and the media took advantage of it by talking how it was so romantic. I know a friend of these people. They did not consider it romantic, they considered it a horrible loss if 2 of their close friends.

LIke the case in our village, friend died, 3 days later best friend dies a few weeks later girlfriend dies, all suicide all hangings.... They set up facebook sites of how they are holding hands and happy forever together now. FAR FROM IT, People need to get real about suicide.

Suicide and the Media?

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