The PCC and Suicide Reporting

In part, this has been in response to coverage of the recent, well-documented suicides and apparent suicides in and around Bridgend. In May, the Commission’s Chairman and other representatives visited the town to hear the views of local residents.

But, aside from that event, there have been a number of developments in this field of the PCC’s work.

• In September, the Commission upheld a complaint from the Scottish suicide-prevention initiative, Choose Life, about an article in the Daily Sport. In its ruling, the Commission noted that the piece in question was “an entirely gratuitous guide to where individuals have killed themselves, and explicitly pointed out to people that there were a number of options about how and where to attempt suicide. This was clearly excessive…” Indeed, the Commission took the opportunity presented by this case to remind editors that the Code of Practice is deliberately designed to avoid the risk of imitative suicides. To see the full ruling click here.

• With the assistance of local MP, Madeleine Moon, several families of young people who had taken their own lives in South Wales informed the PCC that they did not wish to be contacted further by the media. They also expressed concerns about the repeated publication of photographs of those who had died. The Commission communicated the families’ concerns to the media via its well-established advisory notice system.

• Several formal complaints from relatives have been resolved to their satisfaction.

• Following previous useful co-operation with the Samaritans, PCC representatives have undertaken speaking engagements at two conferences organised by the charity. The Commission also offered support to the Samaritans’ recently relaunched guide to suicide reporting (available here).

The debate about how the media report suicide will – and should – continue, since it is a highly complex one. The media clearly has a responsibility, enshrined in the Code of Practice, to avoid publishing excessive information about suicide methods. It must also be particularly sensitive to the feelings of bereaved relatives. However, as the Commission made clear in its ruling on the Choose Life v Daily Sport complaint, “the Code does not seek to prevent a newspaper reporting on the general subject of suicide, or investigating a pattern of suicides, in a manner that serves the public interest.”

In December, the PCC – in partnership with the LSE think-tank POLIS – will hold a seminar to further discuss issues relating to suicide and the media. The Commission is also hopeful that the revised Editors’ Codebook (a guide to the Code of Practice, published – and currently being updated by – the Code of Practice Committee) will provide an opportunity for the lessons learned from the tragedies in South Wales to be given a clear focus.