Article: "Media and Suicides"

Media and Suicides

Trisha Cook

Mar. 22, 04

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Fifty-four teenage girls chanting “and a one…and a two…” all wearing their school uniforms and holding one another’s hands, plunge in front of a moving subway on the final count of “three”.
That is the very first scene in the fairly infamous 2001 Japanese film “Jitatsu Circle” (Suicide Club) directed by Sion Sono. The film was indirectly exploring signs of teenage angst through hundreds of kids inexplicably committing suicide.
Media—through books, plays, songs, movies—have been using suicide as a means for a plot even before Goethe’s novel, published in1774, created the term “Werther effect” (meaning imitation or copycat suicides).
Over 200 years ago, Goethe’s novel was considered a societal taboo, unacceptable for distribution because it was based on one lonely man committing suicide. Now, hundreds of schoolchildren can plunge to their death on the big screen without a hint of outrage from the public.
As the number of suicides increase, annually, so does the silence surrounding the issue, as well as the glorification of suicides in the entertainment media.
The news media neglects to report on the social epidemic because no one wants to hear the truth- which allows the entertainment media to shape society’s impression.
Suicide.
That lowly word has become associated with strong feelings of shame, guilt, depression, isolation and failure.
It has turned into a societal silence, which inadvertently, is a form of social acceptance.
No longer is it reported by the media or portrayed as a condemned act- it is now being presented as a somewhat justified mean to the end.
Why the shame, silence and false justification of suicide? The answer begins with the media’s responsibilities when it comes to reporting.
It is no secret that the news media’s job is to accurately reflect society and in doing that the news media ultimately shapes our views of society
The media finds individual suicide, single self-induced deaths that happen everywhere on a daily basis, not ‘newsworthy’, according to Eve Drobot, a journalism teacher at George Brown College in Toronto.
“Ultimately, and cynically, it’s just a matter of practicality: there are just too many suicides to keep tabs,” Drobot said.
A journalism teacher saying a story is not worth covering because there are just too many killings to keep up with is comparable to a dog turning away a juicy bone because it’s too big. Something is just not right- as journalists if something is killing “too many” it is our job to let it be known.
The over abundance of suicides as well as the sensitive topic itself refrains journalists from reporting unless the victim is a national identity, a celebrity or a public issue is involved, says Drobot.
Perhaps a cultural overkill of the theme of suicide worries journalists and reporting on may numb society’s sensitivity to the tragedy

“The press has a social responsibility to accurately reflect society,” said Professor Blood Warwick of Canberra University in Australia- also author of numerous studies of media and suicide. “Thus, if suicide, or attempted suicide, or suicidal ideation, are community concerns, then the press should be covering these issues.”

When a newsworthy suicide is reported, the news media bases it reports suicides on stereotypes, myths and fallacies, according to the review Media Part I: Reportage in Non-Fictional Media, by Jane R. Pirkis and Prof. Blood Warwick.

Mixing false reasoning behind suicides and the lack of coverage of the actual epidemic as a whole- the media is not accurately representing society.
the shame that goes along with suicidal thoughts.
Underneath the layers of fallacies hiding the growing issue, we can dig up the route journalists need to take with such a sensitive social stigma—all we need is to expose the truth.
Everyone has suicidal thoughts.
Everyone gets the urge to just end it.
--And there is nothing wrong with that.
Journalists have not only opportunity, but the responsibility to speak out on behalf of society and find out “Why?”
By revealing that everyone has suicidal thoughts at one point or another while reporting on the issue of suicide- it gives people a sense of hope. And hope is the one thing that all those who succumb to suicide thoughts, definitely do not have.
Showing commonality on the issue will allow people to feel more secure with speaking about the issue- and seek help if needed.
“I would like to see more stories that cover risk factors associated with suicide and mental illness and analysing longer-term trend data,” Blood said. “All stories should include information for audiences where they can seek further information or advice from health professionals.”
Blood would like the press to follow guidelines because with in his studies, he has found a causal link between the news coverage of suicide and an increase in suicide. The Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) says that by the media de-glorifying suicides when reporting, refraining from using pictures of the deceased and by not getting into details about how the suicide was committed will lead to a decrease in the imitation suicides.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Annenburg Public Policy centre has released a media guideline report in hopes that the news media will refer to it when covering suicides.
“By developing a positive relationship with media, there is an opportunity for public education and for the advocating of suicide prevention,” says the CPA.

Not only should the media report suicides in a responsible matter, revealing how common suicides are and providing contact information for suicide prevention help lines- a substantial effort by the journalist into reporting on how modern society has begun to devalue the human life is also necessary in order to regain hope in society.
“Perhaps an emphasis on what we in fact have to live for might be lacking in media coverage of both homicide and suicide,” said Niagara University ethics Professor, Marc James. “What could be done to remedy this? We might begin to see where life is being devalued in our society and encourage media to cover events and people who speak to the dignity and sacredness of human life.”
While an outrage for a piece of literature speaking of suicide in a novel 200 years ago was seen as an devious act- condemned by many- modern day society doesn’t even flinch at the viewing of children jumping off roofs on the big screen.
“In recent research for a book, I have come across newspaper accounts of homicides and suicides from over a century ago, in which horror of an offence against life seems much more evident than it is n contemporary media accounts,” said Prof. James. “I am not saying we have forgotten how evil murder in, but we have certainly begun to think that the value of human life depends on our own appraisal of it. That is, we tend to think that we have absolute control over our own lives, up to and including, the right to take ourselves out of existence.”
“This leads us to value human life less in absolute terms and more in relative terms, for example ‘My life is only worth what I – or in some cases—others judge it to be worth. I f we continue to deny human life and it’s ultimate value, then the time will soon come when we no longer bother to offer public notices r accounts of suicides and homicides.”
As Prof. James points out, the lesser we, the news media, report on suicides with a sense of the major loss of value for life, the lesser we as a society feel it will be necessary to report about deaths- by suicide- at all. Why? Because the loss of interest will be lost, the suicide rate will be more staggering that it is today and hope for a continuance to live will be lost.
As the entertainment media has the upper hand with shaping society’s views and thoughts about suicide right now, it is the news media’s job to report on the staggering amount of annual suicides, responsibly, to discard society’s stereotypical and false views on the ideation of suicides.
With the right to freedom of expression movies are able, and rightly so, to presenting their visions on film. As long as there is a conscious effort on behalf of the news media to rightly present the accurate facts about suicide, mental illness with in an effort to reduce suicides and de-glorify the act while showing the value for human life- the news media is doing it’s job. By rightly reflecting the actions in society.
For Sono’s Suicide Circle, he had an important message- that one could miss if they blinked towards the end of the film. With the hundreds of school children committing suicide in the movie, Sono asks his audience to look for what really matters in life and live for it.