Sui­cide cov­er­age in the media

Sui­cide in and of itself is not news. Cov­er­ing a sui­cide is a tricky thing to accom­plish. Griev­ing relative’s and friends may or may not con­sent to being inter­viewed, pho­tog­ra­phers have to bal­ance the need for dis­cre­tion with the need to be in the mid­dle of things to be able to tell the story properly.

The Amer­i­can Foun­da­tion for Sui­cide Pre­ven­tion, or AFSP, is a non-profit organaza­tion ded­i­cated to under­stand­ing and pre­vent­ing sui­cide through research, edu­ca­tion and advocacy.

As it turns out, the AFSP is a great resource for the media for infor­ma­tion about the warn­ing signs and real life exam­ples of good and bad sui­cide cov­er­age. Some of the exam­ples listed are from such ven­er­a­ble sources as; The New York Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and USA Today. Cov­er­ing an emo­tional story is a dif­fi­cult task. Reporters and edi­tors are often forced to make quick deci­sions at the last minute in order to beat their com­peti­tors to pub­li­ca­tion. The only true rem­edy to bad report­ing is expe­ri­ence.The AFSP also have an ecx­el­lent FAQ about media coverage.

The fol­low­ing is one exam­ple question:

Don’t some peo­ple who have attempted sui­cide want to tell their sto­ries?
Can’t oth­ers learn from these stories?

It depends on who is telling the story and how it is told. Cer­tainly accounts by adults who have recov­ered from sui­ci­dal depres­sion can be help­ful. Mike Wal­lace and William Sty­ron are notable exam­ples. Accounts by young peo­ple sought by tele­vi­sion pro­grams are usu­ally exploita­tive, may be harm­ful to the young­ster, and may encour­age other young­sters to see a sui­cide attempt as a way of get­ting attention.

Cour­tesy of the AFSP

Just like the CDC the AFSP has a list­ing on their pages for a hot­line to call in case you are con­tem­plat­ing sui­cide. The num­ber listed is iden­ti­cal to the num­ber given by the CDC.

From their web­site, some of their activ­i­ties include:

Sup­port­ing research that is improv­ing our under­stand­ing of sui­cide and its pre­ven­tion. Since 2000, AFSP has invested over $10 mil­lion in new stud­ies, includ­ing research into treat­ments for peo­ple who are depressed and suicidal.

Pro­vid­ing edu­ca­tion and infor­ma­tion about depres­sion and sui­cide to pro­fes­sion­als, the media and the pub­lic through work­shops, train­ings, the AFSP web­site, videos, pub­li­ca­tions, brochures and pub­lic ser­vice announce­ments. AFSP’s PSA, “Sui­cide Shouldn’t be a Secret,” has reached 90 mil­lion tele­vi­sion viewers.

Pub­li­ciz­ing the mag­ni­tude of the prob­lems of depres­sion and sui­cide, advo­cat­ing for poli­cies and leg­is­la­tion that can help pre­vent sui­cide and work­ing to elim­i­nate the stigma sur­round­ing men­tal ill­ness and suicide.

Offer­ing pro­grams for sur­vivors of sui­cide loss that can be of assis­tance and involv­ing sur­vivors in sui­cide pre­ven­tion. AFSP sur­vivor ini­tia­tives include the National Sur­vivors of Sui­cide Day pro­gram, which was broad­cast to over 175 com­mu­ni­ties and was simul­cast on the AFSP web­site, the Sur­vivor e-Network and train­ings for sur­vivor sup­port group facilitators.