Reporting on suicide - Interest of the public vs family in grief

THE age-old debate on how the media reports suicide has been re-ignited by the tragedy surrounding the deaths of three people in a farmhouse in Co Wicklow.

The tragic circumstances behind this triple killing indicate that the elderly mother and father were, in all probability, shot dead by their son, who then went on to take his own life.

In a heartfelt plea to the media for privacy, a representative of the family said they “need time to come to grips with this appalling tragedy and would ask the media to allow them some consideration and privacy so that they can deal with their grief and loss”.

Anyone who ever experienced the personal catastrophe of suicide will empathise with those sentiments. Indeed, so all-pervasive has the problem become that every community has been touched by the haunting spectre of suicide.

Against this depressing backdrop, hard questions confront the media on how such tragedies should be handled. For instance, should the issue be swept under the carpet or faced head-on?

At what stage does legitimate reporting cross the line of decency and trespass on the grief and privacy of deeply suffering relatives?

Are the competing organs of the media interested only in cashing in on such tragedies? Is the sole aim to increase corporate profits by boosting newspaper circulation, attracting more TV viewers or multiplying the number of radio listeners?

These are legitimate questions. Moreover, there is no concealing the fact that the media has earned a predatory and parasitic image as purveyors of bad news.

Deserved or not, this reputation has been tarnished to an even greater degree by the prurient excesses of British tabloids locked in bitter circulation wars.

Essentially, news reporting is about giving people an accurate and faithful representation of the facts in the public interest. Supported by analysis and informed comment, this newspaper aims to do that on a daily basis.

When dealing with the sensitive and harrowing question of suicide, the challenge facing the media is to strike a balance between reporting in the public interest and the right of families to grieve in private.

Heretofore, the Irish media has tended to adopt a broad policy of not reporting suicide as such, largely prompted by fears of triggering copy-cat fatalities.

Indeed, this softly-softly approach has invariably been requested by psychiatrists and other specialists working at the cliff face of an appalling crisis.

As against this, however, it could be argued that unless the sheer scale of Ireland’s suicide epidemic is brought into the open, it will never be faced up to by society. Sadly, the time-worn stigma attached to taking one’s own life would ensure the issue remained a dark secret.

Occasionally, a throw-away remark about suicide, like that recently made by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, albeit unintentionally, can serve as a timely reminder that the deeper implications of suicide have yet to be taken on board by society.

So grave is the crisis besetting Irish society that suicide claims more lives every year than road fatalities. With 40% of suicides occurring among men in their mid-30s or under, a campaign is currently under way to reach young people through TV and YouTube, to get across that it is normal to experience difficulties and what support services exist to help them sort out their problems.

This newspaper owes it to its readers to report, analyse and comment on such matters in a professional and honest way with the aim of stimulating greater public awareness, compassion, and understanding of the problem of suicide in Ireland.