Should the media report suicides? Yes. Despite the received wisdom and long standing journalistic practice, the benefits of responsible and sensitive reporting of suicides outweigh the dubious “evidence” of suicide contagion. Here’s an overview of the issue.

First, I will quickly cover the practical issue of suicide reporting. Obviously, the media cannot cover every suicide. Sadly, there are simply too many. Media outlets would be publishing little else. So we are not asking ourselves whether they all should be reported.

Instead, we ask ourselves whether some suicides should be reported. ^[1]

The most commonly cited reason to avoid reporting on suicides is the idea of suicide contagion. This phenomenon is well documented in the scientific literature of psychology and sociology, and while there is some dissent, for decades the phenomenon has been cited as sufficient reason to maintain the taboo.

But a cursory look at the literature supporting the idea that suicide contagion is a real concern reveals that the evidence is entirely statistical in nature. Direct evidence is impossible to attain. And given the complexity of the issue of suicide,  it would be irresponsible to base public policy or journalistic ethics on evidence which might just as easily be attributed to any number of other factors, such a demographic shifts, economic fluctuations, or even weather patterns.

Another argument in support of the taboo against reporting suicides is that it is done out of respect for the feelings of the family of the victim. And nobody is arguing that seeing their loved one’s suicide reported in the media does not risk making a bad situation worse for the people involved.

But I don’t think that is what is really going on here.  I think what is really going on is that the media simply doesn’t want to report on suicides. It’s a depressing subject that nobody likes to talk or think about, and the media reflects that.

And it’s not exactly the sort of thing that sells papers, either.

It’s not just a media taboo. It’s a societal taboo. The media doesn’t want to talk about it and the public does not want to hear about it. But that which is ignored becomes stigmatized, and the last thing a suicidal person needs is more reasons to feel isolated and ashamed.

Instead of contributing to this harmful taboo, the media should be working to destroy it as only they can. By reporting on suicides, the media can send a message to potential suicides that they are not alone in their depression, that others have gotten to that point, and that there are ways out available and that their situation is not as hopeless as it may seem right now.

Compared to that, using some statistical blip or a cheap dodge about respecting the feelings of the family to justify continuing to avoid dealing with the subject cannot be seen as anything other than dereliction of the duty of journalism to bring light to the dark areas of society, and to give media consumers not just what they want but what they need.

At one point, racism, sexism, religious intolerance, and any number of other examples of social harm labored under similar taboos. It upsets people, they said. People don’t want to hear about it. It will only make a bad situation worse.

But thanks to brave journalists willing to buck the taboo and drag those issues into the light and force the public to deal with them,  society had to take a long look at itself,. and decide what was truly important.

Finally, on a personal note, as someone who has been suicidal, I can that that for me, media coverage would have meant very little to me at the time. My depression was so profound that very little from the outside world penetrated my mind at all. It was like a storm raging in my mind that drowned out everything else.

So watching a media story about someone committing suicide would not have made me any more likely to do it. When I was that depressed, it would have made less of an impact than a hiccup in a hurricane.

But what might have helped is if, after the story, there had been a phone number or website where some kind person could have offered me the help I needed in order to climb out of that dark black hole.

I was lucky. I made it out on my own. I don’t know what it was that kept me from walking blindly into traffic, like I had fantasied about so many times, but I managed to keep myself alive and, eventually, find the help I needed.

But I might have found that help a lot sooner and a lot faster if I had seen something about suicide in the media. And my story is not unique.

Not only should the media report suicides (in an appropriate and responsible way), it has a clear duty to do so. They can help like nobody else can.

Fight the taboo. Talk about suicide.

It could save lives.

References listed in order of use in article :

Navaneelan, T. (n.d.). Suicide rates: An overview. Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-624-x/2012001/article/11696-eng.htm

Phillips, D., & Carstensen, L. (1986). Clustering of Teenage Suicides after Television News Stories about Suicide. The New England Journal of Medicine, 315(11), 685-689. Retrieved November 29, 2015, from http://kwantlen.summon.serialssolutions.com.ezproxy.kwantlen.ca:2080/?s.q=Clustering of Teenage Suicides after Television News Stories about Suicide&spellcheck=true#!/search/document?ho=t&l=en&q=Clustering of Teenage Suicides after Television