Killing news
Responsible coverage of suicides
How do you report on suicides without causing unnecessary pain to the victim’s relatives? Or worse, inadvertently helping to cause “copycat” suicides?
By Perry Catlin
He killed himself on a Saturday, four days before the newspaper’s deadline. By the time we’d pasted up Wednesday night, we were grateful for the time.
Todd, a 14-year-old freshman at Ipswich (Massachusetts) High School, shot himself at home one morning in March, 1985. I was editor of the Ipswich Chronicle at the time, a weekly newspaper covering the North Shore seacoast community.
North Shore Weeklies, the parent company of the Ipswich Chronicle, had an unwritten policy about suicides: If the person who killed himself was a public official, or if he killed himself in public, we covered it and called it suicide. If we knew it was a suicide but the person was relatively unknown in the community and he did it privately, we wrote a straight obituary, leaving out cause of death.
It was clear that we would report on Todd’s death and call it suicide. But it was not clear how extensively we would cover the story or where it would run.
When we began dealing with the story, the editor-in-chief and I disagreed with the newspaper chain’s publisher/owner on how to cover it. Selma Williams, the editor-in-chief, and I thought the coverage should be fairly low-key, but Bill Wasserman, always mindful of the competition, two daily papers, was worried the dailies would cover it extensively.
Selma, Bill and I discussed the story from all angles. Todd did not shoot himself in public. But he was a high school student and the school was buzzing with the news. In addition, Ipswich High School observed a moment of silence in his memory. The story had become a public event.
While we continued to argue about the story, one of the daily newspapers came out with a front-page lead story reporting the death. "Ipswich High School student shoots himself," the headline blared in 48-point type.
About an hour after that paper hit the street, I got a call from Dick Thompson, superintendent of Ipswich schools. He was very upset by the daily’s headline and he wanted to know how we were planning to run the story. I said we hadn’t made a firm decision; did he want to talk with our publisher? I pushed that huddle because I thought it would be helpful if Wasserman could hear Thompson’s side.
Thompson swayed Wasserman, who seemed now to lean toward calling Todd’s death suicide but leaving out quotes about him from classmates and teachers.
Wasserman decided to call a local psychiatrist, Dr. Howard Stone, who often worked with adolescents, and explained our predicament.
Stone gave us new information. He said he was aware of a possible suicide pact, where other students had agreed to kill themselves if one did it. We now realized even more that we were carrying an enormous responsibility. Stone understood our needs and agreed that it would be irresponsible, and perhaps, even more upsetting to other unstable youngsters if we ignored the story.
We thanked Stone and huddled again, this time coming up with a mutually agreeable solution. In the middle of page two, with a two-deck, 24-point headline, we ran a short, straightforward story telling what had happened. The other obituaries ran farther back in the paper.
On the editorial page, we ran a lead editorial about an unrelated story. The second and third editorials were about teenage suicide.
The first one carried the headline, "Looking for answers in the wake of tragedy." It started, "Suicide – chosen death – has shaken Ipswich this week."
"… What everyone faces after a suicide is a feeling of helplessness about the death that has occurred. But what becomes critically important is that we use our best resources to avert any additional tragedy."
That editorial praised the high school administration for reaching out to other students "who may feel despair." It continued in part, "The school’s example can be a model for the whole community. Counseling can help…"
The next editorial was called, "Help is available." It was boxed in 4-point broken tape, encouraging readers to clip it. There, we listed resources for those who contemplate suicide, and we included names and phone numbers.
It was one of the those stressful, wrenching times when you put in fifteen hours for six inches of copy. But the effort was well worth it. We didn’t hear a single complaint from the community, the superintendent and the consulting psychologist even complimented our coverage. Most important, we believe we did the right thing.
Perry Catlin is editor of the Georgetown (MA) Record. She is the former editor of the Ipwich (MA) Chronicle .
Source: FineLine: The Newsletter On Journalism Ethics, vol. 1, no. 3 (June 1989), p. 7.
This case was produced for FineLine, a publication of Billy Goat Strut Publishing, 600 East Main Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202. Reprinted with the permission of Billy Goat Strut Publishing. This case may be reproduced for classroom and research purposes. Publication of this case in electronic or printed form requires written permission from the publisher and Indiana University. An exception is granted for use in readers designed for specific academic courses.
June 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I believe that was very responsible of your and very respectful. I think I would have done the same if I was reporting the story. I hope that it helped other students and people in general to get help if needed. It was a good thing that you waited to print the story. You could have put the wrong thing. Congratulations on your success.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
We thought the paper’s decision to not write such a big story about the event was reasonable. It ran on the second page of the newspaper with a smaller title. We thought it was wise to keep it low-key and personal for the sake of the family and friends of Todd.
November 5th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I agree with paper’s decision. It was good to show respect toward’s Todd’s family and Todd himself. In the code of ethics, under minimize harm, it says to be sensitive when seeking hurtful information. I think this paper did really well at that; especially after the your competing newspaper covered the entire story of Todd’s death. I really liked the section where you offered help to teens who felt desperate.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I think that the paper that was publishes about Todd’s death was very informative. I think the reporters and writers did the right thing by focusing on how to deal with sucide and how to get help if you need it. The paper was printed for teenagers to be aware and for parents to see signs of sucide and how to help someone in need. In the code of ethics its says to be carful when dealing with children and i think they handled this paper very well because Todd’s story was an example for the rest of the world.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I think that this story helps other people to learn about suicide. In the code of ethics it says to show compassion for those who may be affected adversly by news coverage. I think that they did a really good job by not overwhelming the family and just getting the right amount of information to inform the people interested. I also think that they did a good job with deciding not to write such a big story on it since it is a sensitive story.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I think that the newspaper was wrong in covering the story. In the beginning of the article, it stated that only if the person was a public official, and if it was done in pulic should the story be printed as a suicide. This person, while surely widely known to the community of the High School, was NOT public official, and the suicide was done in his own home. While the ariticle put in how to help those who are contemplating suicide, which is good, they shouldnt have printed about Todd. They should have kept it to jsut a simple obituary. The school, Im sure, would have eventually found out that Todd died by his own hand, but they should not have printed it in the paper. They, i dont think, followed the ethics of journalism here because they, in my opinion, didnt think about being sensitive enough to the school community or the family of Todd because if they had, i believe they wouldnt have run the article.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:10 am
I think the paper’s careful approach to the story was very affective. Since it is such a touchy situation, they could have easily offended the community members,but the way they covered it was considerate and compassionate. I think they did a good job on considering all the differnt angles, kind of acheiving a happy-medium. Some people might think they should tell the story regardless of the circumstances, and others that might think they should completely cover it up and not bring it to attention in the news at all. They manage to successfully cover somewhere in the middle, and make it a very good story, keeping both sides in mind. It was also a good idea to provide sources for help and inform readers of how serious the tragedy is.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
I think the newspaper handled this report well. This is definitely a touchy subject and I think the report was done appropriately with the family’s feelings towards this clearly in mind. The story obviously in this small town was of big news and I believe needed to be reported, mainly to inform people who are going through something like this that there is help out there, and this only hurts your family and your community but most of all shortens a young life that was just getting started. As stated in the code of ethics a reporter but show good taste and I believe they did just this keeping the people whom were close to him in mind. The story needed to be shown and they did it in the right way, contrary to the opposing newspaper who published a story that I believe was uncalled for.
March 24th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Not writing a big story about it was the right thing to do. I think it would have caused a lot more problems if a big story was written. If they wrote a big story about it, then the Todd’s family probably wouldn’t like it. They have a right to privacy.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I think that the newspaper was right when they published the story. I also think that they took a good approach to how the story would come across and that they handled it very well. I think that they thought about the victim’s family and friends feelings and they considered them greatly when writing their article.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I think that the newspaper did the right thing to write an obituary. Todd’s family has the right to keep there problem private.