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• Be careful when approaching friends and relatives for comment: They might not have heard the news.
• In your story, avoid speculating about the motivation for the suicide. Likewise, avoid quoting the speculation of others. Often, there is not a simple "reason" for a suicide. If you include one in your report, you may cause someone else to feel unwarranted responsibility for the suicide.
• Be careful not to romanticize the suicide with lurid or gratuitous detail.
• Consider running a sidebar with contact information for local suicide hotlines and other mental health resources.
• Journalists can include information that can help the public view suicide more accurately by including such contextual details as trends in suicide rates; myths about suicide; warning signs; actions that individuals can take to prevent suicide by others.
Dart Center Resources
• "Suicide: Fighting the Stigma" An in-depth Dart Center series about covering suicide.
• "Depression:
What Journalists Should Know" Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg discusses medical aspects of depression and suicide.
• "Suicide Coverage Can Amplify Problem." A summary of
"Reporting on Suicide: Recommendations for the Media."
Links & Sources
• Surgeon General's Report
• Poynter Institute: Reporting on Suicide
(Poynter.org)
• Responsible Media Coverage of Suicide
(FL Suicide Prevention)
• Suicide Prevention Action Network
(spanusa.org)
• National Mental Health Association
(nmha.org)
• Silent Screams web site
(silentscreams.tv)
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