Sharing the community’s grief
Little Rock news coverage of three teen-age suicides
It was not a question of whether to report on the suicides of three Sheridan youths within hours of each other, but how to do it with the sensitivity the story — and the community — needed.
By Keith Moyer
The first to take his life was Thomas Smith of Sheridan, Arkansas. Smith stood up in front of his 11th-grade history class one Monday afternoon, professed his love for a girl sitting nearby and put a .22-caliber pistol to his forehead and pulled the trigger.
Later that day, at about 10 p.m., and after Little Rock television newscasts had reported Smith’s death, 19-year-old Thomas Chidester, a good friend of Smith’s, sat in his bedroom, placed a 45-caliber pistol to his temple and shot himself to death. A note he left behind said simply, "I can’t go on any longer." His grandmother found his body about 3:30 a.m.
The following day, Jerry McCool, 17 years old and an acquaintance of Smith’s, went to his bedroom, put a .22-caliber pistol to his right temple and ended his life. He and his father had discussed the Smith boy’s suicide the night before.
With three teen-age suicides in 24 hours, editors at the Arkansas Gazette knew two things: One, we had a big story on our hands. And two, we would have to handle the story with as much sensitivity as possible while fulfilling our news coverage obligations in one of the most competitive newspaper markets in the country.
Reminding ourselves of studies that show "copycat" suicides occur sometimes after news coverage of such events, we decided to play down somewhat the story about the first boy, Thomas Smith. Editors at our competitor, the Arkansas Democrat, played the story at the bottom of their front page. We opted for the bottom of page 18, our metro/state front.
By late that Tuesday morning, we were aware of the second suicide, and later in the day, learned of the third.
And, as much as we didn’t want to overplay the story, competitive pressures, as well as the fact that it had grown into a national story, forced us to make it our lead story for Wednesday.
Yet we still talked a lot about the way we played that front-page story. I referred to guidelines based on a study of imitative suicides by Dr. David Phillips and Katherine Lesyna of the University of California at San Diego.
They said, in part:
- The story should not be presented in a romanticized or idealized manner.
- The story should mention alternatives to suicide (for example, counseling or a suicide prevention center) and not mention related suicides or a suicide epidemic.
- The story should link suicide with negative outcomes such as pain for the suicide victim and his survivors.
- The story should be short, placed on an inside page and not be repeated.
- Editors should avoid presenting authorities or sympathetic ordinary people speaking for the reasonableness of suicide.
- As our coverage developed throughout that week it became clear to me that we would be able to adhere to some of those guidelines but not to some of the others.
- The Gazette’s Sheridan suicide stories were not written in such a way so as to romanticize what had happened. Special care was taken by editors and reporters not to draw conclusions or to present images that attempted to justify the boys’ actions.
- Numerous references were made to the need for education concerning suicide and stressing the importance of counseling for youths with emotional problems. We did not, could not, though, honor the suggestion that the suicides not be linked or painted as an epidemic. Gazette readers knew the story was a big one. Local and national TV newscasts were all over it. The other statewide paper, the Democrat, was linking the suicides on its front page as well.
- Our stories and photographs of grieving parents and friends definitely linked suicide with negative outcomes.
- Our stories, and there were many written to cover numerous angles that developed, weren’t necessarily short in length (though some were), but were only as long as they needed to be to tell all the facts. Many of our Sheridan suicide stories were placed on inside pages.
- No "pro" suicide or sympathetic views were reported.
In short, Gazette editors did their best to give the big story the play it deserved while making sure the coverage was not overblown or irresponsible.
Across Little Rock, editors at our competitor and news directors at the TV stations were doing the same thing.
Bob Lutgen, assistant managing editor of the Democrat, told the Gazette that they decided to play the story on the front page from Day 1, but not without some thought to the ramifications.
"I certainly don’t want to glamorize the tragedy of it, but it’s a big news story when you have a youngster kill himself in front of the class . . . and then two others follow," Lutgen said. "It’s frightening."
Bob Steel, news director at KARK-TV, Little Rock, said staffers talked a lot about how to properly play the story. But the bottom line was that it was a big story and had to be covered as such.
"There is this copycat syndrome and we were worried about that. I told reporters who were sent to the scene to be sensitive, to not be pushy in trying to get interviews," Steel said. "But our position was that there was not a person in Sheridan who didn’t know that the suicides had occurred. Hey, it happened and we covered it."
All newspapers and TV stations in the market did a balanced job of giving readers and viewers lots of helpful information on how to spot teen-age depression, how to get counseling, etc., including KTHV.
John Rehrauer, the news director there, said, "There was good work on all the sidebars on TV and the newspapers, very helpful stuff," Rehrauer said. "All in all, I thought there was pretty good restraint on the part of all the media here."
I would tend to agree with that assessment. News organizations in Little Rock managed to keep readers abreast of the latest developments without being too dramatic or sensationalistic.
The Gazette offered its readers a Sunday front-page piece by a former staffer who lives in Sheridan. Bob Lancaster’s story painted nicely the mood of the close-knit community and put into perspective what the town was going through.
"How could such a thing be happening?" he wrote.
"By Wednesday, Sheridan was aswarm with inquisitive and sympathetic strangers asking such troubling questions. A caravan of out-of-town and out-of-state news reporters and photographers found their way into Sheridan, as did an even larger contingent of counselors and suicide-prevention specialists, some from as far away as San Francisco."
His story made clear that the notoriety had not been sought by the people of Sheridan.
And while it was tough for Gazette reporters to intrude on their lives day after day for a week (there were isolated incidents where townspeople lashed out at newspeople) the story needed to be told.
At the Gazette we tried to do what was right — on the one hand, right by our readers who depend on the newspaper for the straight story, on the other hand, right by the people of Sheridan.
Under difficult circumstances, I believe the Gazette and all other news organizations in Little Rock met the challenge.
Keith Moyer is editor of the Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock.
Source: FineLine: The Newsletter On Journalism Ethics, vol. 2, no. 3 (June 1990), pp. 1, 8.
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.
November 2nd, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I don’t feel as though you were intruding on the victims families lives, but you did do a very good job in giving the information that was needed, and no more than that. I am a teenager myself, and I think it is a good idea to have more awarenesses in schools and communities about suicide and being a suicide victim. My best friends mother commited suicide and I prevented my friend from doing the same, because she has a family and friends who love her and are here for her, and God put her on this Earth for a reason, and it isn’t to commit suicide. Thank you for posting this news article, because it will help teenagers, as well as adults, from commiting suicide.
February 13th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I don’t agree with the comment above i think that this report makes no difference on a teen thinking about commiting suicide. They dont think about that when they are bout to do that all they are thinking is about how they feel and whats going on inside there head. She obviously does not understand what people go through when they are in that state of mind.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Reading an article about suicide will not make a mentally stable teenager or adult want to “copycat” and committ suicide. It’s silly to think reporting the facts of a suicide will persuade others, provided they are of sound mind and body, into doing the same. I will agree however, this is a touchy subject and no one truly knows why people committ suicide. There are no victims around to tell their stories.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
We think that the newspaper was smart for trying to make the story less romanticised and trying to give the readers and alternative way of dealing with their problems other than suicide, But we dont think that reading an article would make you want to commit suicide. It isnt the papers fault if someone who is mentally unstable thinks that the idea of being in the newspaper for suicide is a good one. People commit suicide for their own reasons and saying that newspapers are a big part of it is silly.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I think that obviously there was a “copy-cat” effect that the first kid had on the two others to commit suicide. If the first kid had not commited suicide I do not think that the others would have. It might have been because they were sad and not neccesarily “copy-catting.” I think that the reporters went about covering the story in a good way with strong rules on how they were going to approach it. For example the rule of “The story should not be presented in a romanticized or idealized manner.” That shows that they do not want to drag out the story and make it something bigger than it is and make a bigger deal out of it than it should be.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I think that the way they (Gazette) posted this story was justified. They kept the respect of Sheridan by not releasing any of the information until all of the research and evidence was gathered. I think it was right to publish the storty nationally because it is one that i believe needs to be heard. IF kids are killing each other, it needs to be reported so there can be education about how this not just affects the depressed kids,but those around them. Its good to also release early symptoms of suicidal teens so parents and other administrative adults can detect it and try to prevent it.I do think that all the suicides were linked because all the boys were friends, and while only one really embarrassed himself, there was no justification for the rest of it unless they all planned out that they would end their lives on the same day.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I think that they published the story in a very respectful and truthful way. I believe that they did everything right when they wrote the story. They were honest and upfront with the readers but also were very careful when they wrote about what happened. It was a story that need tp be told to educate the community and they had every right to write it.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I agree! I think they did the right thing to publish this story.They published it in a respectful and compassionate way.The reporters waited to recieve all the information before they sent it out for everyone to see. It was a good idea to publish this because they told how to get help if your suicidal and they showed how it was a “copycat” effect. They needed to get this out to the media to prevent this from happening again. They took a good approach on that.In the code of ethics it states that the jouranlist should show compassion and thats exactly what they did.
November 6th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I feel like the newscast did the right thing by now making a huge deal out of what happened by playing it down a little. A lot of times the news goes on and on about big stories like this and they aren’t very sensitive to the family of the person. I do agree with putting it on the front page, because if that’s something that was continuing to happen, the town needed to be aware. I like how the news company was actually concerned about the boys though, that’s something you don’t see much.
November 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
i feel like crying. Why? This is the saddest story I have ever read. I can’t see the light. My brain is swirling. MAKE THIS MADNESS STOP.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
When I read this it makes me sad. I don’t understand how people can take their life. I think that when people take their life it isn’t fair to the people that are dying from cancer or some other disease because they actually want to live. This article is really sad. I cant believe people don’t see the signs that people give when they are going to kill their self.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
This is a sad story. But I believe it was brought forth in a proper way. A story like that definitely needs to be published!
March 24th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
I feel that a story such as three teenage suicides in one day needs to be treated with the utmost care and sympathy. I think that it should be up to the families of the ones who killed themselves whether or not the names and other personal information is allowed to be used, but this is the kind of story that makes for a potentially perfect article. It doesn’t need to be the main-attraction and go into great detail about everything. It does need to be covered to some extent though.
April 30th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I was a student at Sheridan during this time. It is very hard reading this story even today as we approach the 18 year mark for these deaths. I am very thankful to all the faculty, clergy, townspeople, and everyone who prayed for these families and us. I am also thankful for the reporters for not making this a big scandal, and showing it for what it was- a VERY difficult tragedy in a small town. Please continue to remember our small, our families and our youth, as well as all the youth of the nation.