Group to monitor media coverage of suicide

GROUPS representing people affected by mental illness and suicide have banded together to encourage better reporting of the subjects in the print and broadcast media.

A service called Headline — the National Media Monitoring Programme has been set up to scrutinise newspaper, radio and television content and highlight reports it is felt should be drawn to the public’s attention for negative or positive reasons.

Members of the public can sign up to receive online daily bulletins containing the latest reports and will be advised how to go about contacting the relevant media organisation and given template letters to help them make their complaint or comment.

The public will also be encouraged to submit for comment reports that come to their own attention, and the website, www.headline.ie, will display reports which it is judged contain serious breaches of Headline reporting guidelines.

Geoff Day, head of the Health Service Executive’s National Office for Suicide Prevention, said the service would allow the public to voice their opinion about media reporting while also influencing how journalists and broadcasters reported such issues.

“Suicide is a tragedy — for individuals, for families left behind and for the communities left behind. All the evidence shows that inappropriate media reporting can make that suffering worse,” he said. “We know from international research that the over-sensationalising or over-glamorising of suicide, or detailed reporting of the method used, can lead to copycat suicides,” he added.

Mr Day said the aim was not to prevent media coverage of the issues.

“We do want the media to report. This is not an approach of censorship. In Ireland the media is generally responsible in its reporting and in creating a climate where we can discuss what needs to be done.”

Radio presenter and rugby commentator, George Hook, who has spoken publicly about a difficult period in his own life when he considered suicide, said broadcasters and journalists had a greater task than ever to present their reports responsibly because staff cuts in media organisations meant reports were not being filtered as much before they reached publication.