{"id":366447,"date":"2018-06-23T05:47:47","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T04:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/clicks-over-ethics-careless-coverage-of-suicide\/"},"modified":"2018-06-23T05:47:47","modified_gmt":"2018-06-23T04:47:47","slug":"clicks-over-ethics-careless-coverage-of-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/clicks-over-ethics-careless-coverage-of-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Clicks Over Ethics: Careless Coverage of Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8926819\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8926819\" src=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/CDC-Suicide-Rates.jpg\" alt=\"CDC: Suicide rates rose across the US from 1999 to 2016\" width=\"350\" height=\"287\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Source: CDC (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2018\/p0607-suicide-prevention.html\">6\/7\/18<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The recent deaths of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain have forced the media into a necessary, albeit painful, discussion of suicide and mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2018\/p0607-suicide-prevention.html\">new study<\/a> released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates have been rising in nearly every state over the past two decades. It is now the tenth leading cause of death, making it a critical US public health issue.<\/p>\n<p>How the media portray suicide directly affects how our culture handles it, and the stakes for irresponsible reporting are high. As the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/mmwr\/preview\/mmwrhtml\/00031539.htm\"><b>CDC <\/b>states<\/a>, the phenomenon of copycat suicides, or suicide cluster or contagion, can result from simplistic, sensational and glamorized coverage. One notorious example, cited by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sprc.org\/sites\/default\/files\/migrate\/library\/OlsonSuicideContagionSuicideClusters2013.pdf\">Suicide Prevention Resource Center<\/a>, occurred in 1962, when the month following the death of Marilyn Monroe and the ensuing media circus saw a 12 percent rise in suicides. (&#8220;The blond, 36-year-old actress was nude, lying face down on her bed and clutching a telephone receiver in her hand when a psychiatrist broke into her room at 3:30 a.m.,&#8221; was how the <strong>LA Times<\/strong>\u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/obituaries\/archives\/la-me-marilyn-monroe-19620806-story.html\">8\/5\/62<\/a>\u2014broke the news.)<\/p>\n<p>A study in the <b>American Journal of Public Health<\/b> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1404629\/pdf\/amjph00215-0075.pdf\">2\/90<\/a>) used state records from 1988 to 1996 to identify clustered suicides\u2014three to 11 incidents that occurred in the same city or town in a three-month span\u2014and analyzed news coverage of the events. The study found certain story characteristics, including front-page placement, headlines containing the word \u201csuicide\u201d and descriptions of the suicidal person and act, appeared more often in reports on the first suicide in a cluster.<\/p>\n<p>Guidelines for reporting have been drawn up. But in the wake of Spade and Bourdain\u2019s highly publicized deaths, some corporate media have failed to follow them, apparently willing to put ethics to the side in their quest for clicks.<\/p>\n<p>The Society of Professional Journalists\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spj.org\/ethicscode.asp\">Code of Ethics<\/a>, the fundamental guidelines for US journalism since 1926, states that reporters should \u201cminimize harm,\u201d explaining that they should:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Balance the public\u2019s need for information against potential harm or discomfort<\/li>\n<li>Weigh the consequences of publishing or broadcasting personal information<\/li>\n<li>Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity, even if others do<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mental health organizations such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/afsp.org\/about-suicide\/for-journalists\/\">American Foundation for Suicide Prevention<\/a> (AFSP) have issued advice to journalists on minimizing harm in reporting on suicide.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8926824\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8926824\" src=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Economist-Bourdain.png\" alt=\"Economist: Anthony Bourdain committed suicide on June 8th\" width=\"350\" height=\"279\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The <strong>Economist<\/strong>&#8216;s headline (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/obituary\/2018\/06\/16\/anthony-bourdain-committed-suicide-on-june-8th\">6\/16\/18<\/a>) framed suicide as a crime.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>One of the AFSP\u2019s recommendations (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ap.org\/press-releases\/2015\/2015-ap-stylebook-adds-more-than-300-new-or-revised-entries\">adopted<\/a> by the 2015 revision of the <b><i>AP<\/i><\/b><i> Stylebook<\/i>) is to abandon the word \u201ccommitted\u201d in relation to suicide, substituting phrases like \u201cdied by suicide\u201d or \u201ctook his\/her own life\u201d instead. J. John Mann, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University and a past AFSP president, explained on <b>Democracy Now! <\/b>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2018\/6\/11\/123_deaths_a_day_inside_the\">6\/11\/18<\/a>) that \u201ccommitted\u201d implies suicide is a crime, perpetuating stigma:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Suicide was regarded as self-murder. There\u2019s a long theological background to this kind of thinking. And so this was a terrible problem in terms of reaching out to these people and offering them help. We know now in many religions that the theological view of suicide has changed. It\u2019s now regarded as the act of an ill person, and therefore not a sin, and thus people and their families should be treated just the same as people who have died of any other cause.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>While most major news organizations have caught on, to their credit, the <b>New York Post<\/b> (<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2018\/06\/11\/how-to-tell-if-your-mood-swings-could-be-bipolar-disorder\/\">6\/11\/18<\/a>) and the <b>Boston Globe<\/b> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/business\/2018\/06\/08\/mourning-kate-spade-female-creatives-share-struggles-with-balancing-real-life-and-lifestyle-brands\/tf9T0NcGQYKobvGy1ZdB0O\/story.html\">6\/8\/18<\/a>) both used the phrase \u201ccommitted suicide\u201d when discussing Kate Spade\u2019s death. <b>The Economist <\/b>published an obituary (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/obituary\/2018\/06\/16\/anthony-bourdain-committed-suicide-on-june-8th\">6\/18\/18<\/a>) headlined, \u201cAnthony Bourdain Committed Suicide on June 8.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The AFSP also advises that although sharing <a href=\"http:\/\/afsp.org\/statistics\">up-to-date suicide data<\/a> is an effective way to shed light on the issue, reporters should not refer to suicide as a \u201cgrowing problem,\u201d \u201cepidemic\u201d or \u201cskyrocketing,\u201d as these sensationalistic terms <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/books\/NBK207262\/\">have been shown<\/a> to cause contagion.<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_8926825\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8926825\" src=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Providence-Journal-Suicide.png\" alt=\"Providence Journal: Suicide Rate Should Alarm Us All\" width=\"350\" height=\"316\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>While noting that some journalists are &#8220;re-evaluat[ing] how suicide is reported&#8230;to be mindful of the danger of copycats,&#8221; the <strong>Providence Journal<\/strong> editorial page (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.providencejournal.com\/opinion\/20180613\/editorial-suicide-rate-should-alarm-us-all\">6\/13\/18<\/a>) twice referred to &#8220;successful suicides.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>While on <b>Democracy Now!<\/b>, Amy Goodman asked carefully about the \u201crising rate of suicide,\u201d other publications have not been as cautious with their wording. <b>Newsweek<\/b> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/suicide-suicide-rate-nevada-nevada-department-health-and-human-services-967577\">6\/8\/18<\/a>) reported, \u201cSuicide rates in the US have spiked by 30 percent since 1999,\u201d while a <b>Houston Chronicle<\/b> article (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreader.com\/usa\/houston-chronicle\/20180609\/281492162015749\">6\/9\/18<\/a>) read, \u201cCeleb Deaths Spotlight Suicide Rate Spike.\u201d The <b>New York Times<\/b> published an opinion piece (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/06\/11\/opinion\/suicide-rates-increase-anthony-bourdain-kate-spade.html\">6\/11\/18<\/a>) by Richard A. Friedman, a psychiatrist, which addressed an \u201calarming\u201d \u201csuicide epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, according to the ASFP, a reporter should never refer to a suicide attempt as \u201csuccessful,\u201d \u201cunsuccessful\u201d or as a \u201cfailed attempt,\u201d as the word \u201csuccessful\u201d has a harmful positive connotation. Most outlets avoided this terminology.<\/p>\n<p>However, the <b>Houston Chronicle<\/b> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressreader.com\/usa\/houston-chronicle\/20180609\/281492162015749\">6\/9\/18<\/a>) stated: \u201cIn all, there are about 1.3 million attempted suicides annually. Only 1 in 25 are successful.\u201d A <strong>Providence Journal<\/strong> editorial (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.providencejournal.com\/opinion\/20180613\/editorial-suicide-rate-should-alarm-us-all\">6\/13\/18<\/a>) warned that many who attempt suicide &#8220;will try to do so more than once. Some will eventually succeed.&#8221; (The <strong>Journal<\/strong> editorial also noted that guns &#8220;were used in slightly more than half of successful suicides in 2016.&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p>Also warned against: graphic or glamorized depictions of a suicide death, including details or images of lethal means or method used, details about location, and the sharing of notes left behind. Failing to follow these guidelines, the ASFP asserts, increases the risk of suicide contagion. But several outlets ignored them.<\/p>\n<p>Many outlets referred to Spade&#8217;s and Bourdain&#8217;s suicides as &#8220;deaths by hanging,\u201d but some went into further detail. <b>CNN<\/b>\u2019s Eric Levinson and Brynn Gringas (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2018\/06\/05\/us\/kate-spade-dead\/index.html\">6\/6\/18<\/a>), for example, wrote, \u201cSpade was found hanged by a scarf she allegedly tied to a doorknob, an NYPD source said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One can fault police for divulging such information, but media outlets are in charge of what information to share with the public.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8926815\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8926815\" src=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/TMZ-Kate-Spade.png\" alt=\"TMZ: 'Ask Daddy, I Love You'\" width=\"350\" height=\"501\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>TMZ<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2018\/06\/05\/kate-spade-suicide-note-daughter-ask-daddy\/\">6\/5\/18<\/a>) offered a case study in how not to report on suicide.<br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b>CNN<\/b> was only a step above tabloid <b>TMZ<\/b> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2018\/06\/05\/kate-spade-suicide-note-daughter-ask-daddy\/\">6\/5\/18<\/a>), which published, \u201cWe&#8217;re also told the housekeeper found her tied with a red scarf to a closet door knob in the bedroom.\u201d Did readers <i>really<\/i> need to know the color of the scarf Spade used?<\/p>\n<p><b>Rolling Stone <\/b>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/news\/anthony-bourdain-dead-at-61-of-apparent-suicide-w521275\">8\/8\/18<\/a>) gave a similarly unnecessary description of Bourdain\u2019s death, detailing that he used a bathrobe belt to hang himself. The <strong>New York Post<\/strong>, in an article picked up by <strong>FoxNews.com<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/2018\/06\/13\/patton-oswalt-shares-anthony-bourdain-honeymoon-advice-email-following-stars-death.html\">6\/13\/18<\/a>), also shared the gratuitous detail that Bourdain &#8220;hanged himself\u00a0with the belt from his hotel bathrobe.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>TMZ<\/b> also shared the contents of Spade\u2019s suicide note to her 13-year-old daughter, even displaying it in the bold font of the headline. The <b>New York Post<\/b>\u2019s <b>PageSix<\/b> \u00a0(<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2018\/06\/06\/kate-spade-committed-suicide-after-husband-sought-divorce\/\">6\/6\/18<\/a>) also published the entire note.<\/p>\n<p>Both outlets failed to include mental health helpline information anywhere in their articles, a practice ASFP also advises.<\/p>\n<p>Though no one expects tabloids like <b>TMZ <\/b>and the <b>New York Post <\/b>to be pinnacles of journalistic integrity, they are widely read. In the last six months, <b>TMZ<\/b>\u2019s website had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/website\/tmz.com\">nearly 50 million visits<\/a>, and the <b>New York Post<\/b> had almost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/website\/nypost.com#overview\">89 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Spade\u2019s family expressed anger over the note being shared. Her husband, Andy Spade, said in a statement to the<b> New York Times<\/b> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/06\/06\/style\/andy-spade-statement.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytfashion\">6\/6\/18<\/a>) that the note was shared to the media before it was shared with Spade\u2019s family. \u201cI have yet to see any note left behind and am appalled that a private message to my daughter has been so heartlessly shared with the media,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Although the<b> Times <\/b>did not publish the note verbatim, it did paraphrase it directly:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that a note found at the scene addressed to Ms. Spade\u2019s 13-year-old daughter indicated that what had happened was not the child\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>FAIR (<a href=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/home\/journalisms-dark-matter\/\">3\/29\/16<\/a>) has criticized the<b> Times<\/b>\u2019 questionable use of anonymous sources. One of the paper\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/mediawatch\/transcripts\/0726_nyt.pdf\">internal rules<\/a>, not followed here, is that anonymous quotations should be accompanied by an explanation of why the source needed to be anonymous. In this case, it\u2019s likely that the unstated reason for requesting anonymity is that the sharing of a suicide note with the press is an unethical violation of a dead person and a grieving family\u2019s privacy.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, reporters are encouraged not to suggest a suicide was \u201ccaused\u201d by a single event, such as a job loss or divorce, as <a href=\"http:\/\/afsp.org\/signs\">research shows<\/a> no one takes their own life for one single reason, but rather when outside stressors and health problems converge. \u201cReporting a \u2018cause\u2019 leaves the public with an overly simplistic and misleading understanding of suicide,\u201d the ASFP states.<\/p>\n<p>Precisely the kind of coverage the group is warning about appeared on <b>PageSix<\/b>, where reporter Yaron Steinbuch (<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2018\/06\/06\/kate-spade-committed-suicide-after-husband-sought-divorce\/\">6\/6\/18<\/a>) speculated: \u201cKate Spade fell into a deep depression days before hanging herself because her husband\u2014who had moved out of their Park Avenue home\u2014sought a divorce, according to a report.\u201d At <b>TMZ<\/b> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2018\/06\/06\/kate-spade-suicide-husband-andy-divorce-depressed\/\">6\/6\/18<\/a>) it was, \u201cKate Spade Depressed Because Husband Wanted a Divorce,\u201d while the New York<b> Daily News <\/b>(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/new-york\/ny-metro-kate-spade-suicide-sparked-by-husbands-divorce-20180606-story.html\">6\/6\/18<\/a>) headlined an article,\u00a0 \u201cKate Spade\u2019s Suicide Sparked by Husband Seeking Divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Andy Spade\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/kate-spade-suicide-andy-spade-statement-after-designers-death-today-2018-06-06\/\">statement<\/a> following his wife\u2019s death addressed false claims the couple was divorced, indicating that they were separated, but never discussed divorce.<\/p>\n<p>The media\u2019s job is to serve the public interest. It has the potential to educate people about otherwise taboo topics through responsible, ethical reporting. But irresponsibility regarding issues of suicide does a great public disservice.<\/p>\n<p>The difference between a careful and careless report could be the difference between life or death, stigma or help-seeking.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. <\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span><br \/>\nThis piece was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission from <a href=\"https:\/\/fair.org\/home\/clicks-over-ethics-careless-coverage-of-suicide\/\">FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: CDC (6\/7\/18) The recent deaths of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain have forced the media into a necessary, albeit painful, discussion of suicide and mental illness. According to a new study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates have been rising in nearly every state over [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2521,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-366447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}