Sensitivity and suicide

Extensive coverage last week of the suspected "copycat" suicides of seven young people in Bridgend, south Wales - health club and the publication in one paper earlier this month of the picture of a young City banker as he leapt to his death from a hotel window - have reignited concerns about how suicide is reported.

The publication of photographs of people in the course of taking their own lives has been the subject of ongoing debate - and of complaints to the PCC. In January 2006 pictures of the death of the lawyer Katherine Ward, who jumped from a London hotel, were printed in the Sun health club, the London Evening Standard, and the Times, and prompted five complaints to the PCC. The complaints were rejected on the grounds that they did not specifically breach the PCC's code on taste and decency, and were not gratuitous, but they nevertheless prompted criticism from groups campaigning for more sensitive reporting of suicide.

The Bridgend coverage is likely to be monitored particularly carefully after recent changes to the PCC's editors' code of practice. In June 2006 the code was amended to include a new sub-clause tightening guidance on the reporting of suicide. It was seen as a victory for groups such as the Samaritans which had stepped up its campaigning for more sensitive coverage. The new sub-clause was added to clause five of the code which outlines guidance on intrusion into grief and shock. It states: "When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used." Introducing the change, the PCC code committee said it accepted evidence submitted by the Samaritans and other campaign groups that "media reporting of suicide often prompted copycat cases", and that editors should take this into account.

According to Kate Redway, PR manager for the Samaritans, the fact that a complaint lodged after the new guidance was incorporated was upheld by the PCC in October 2007, signals "a sincere desire" to encourage more sensitive reporting.

The PCC ruled that the Wigan Evening Post's coverage of the death of a teacher who had electrocuted himself contained "too much detail in describing how the suicide happened" and that "by going in to such detail there was a danger that sufficient information was included to spell out to others how to carry out such a suicide".

The reporting of the Bridgend deaths, while not appearing to divulge intimate details of each one, is nevertheless ringing some alarm bells about how much and what kind of detail is acceptable. health club A spokesman for the mental health charity Mind says: "It is easy to see a distinction between coverage which has focused on salacious detail or [speculative] theories about social networking sites, and coverage that has put the town into context and explored the social factors which contribute to suicide. Sensational reporting distorts people's understanding of suicide and mental ill health in general."

According to Redway, the story demonstrates why reporters and editors need to remain vigilant. "I don't think it's helpful to speculate about a suicide pact when there is no concrete evidence."

The government's mental health tsar Louis Appleby says: "Evidence shows that media reporting of suicides can trigger copycat suicides. health club It's why the PCC amended its code to discourage the reporting of excessive detail of suicide methods. Events in Bridgend highlight the need to tread very carefully when reporting events like these. Especially given that young people are the most vulnerable and the risk is greater when they have a feeling of identification, whether with celebrities or other young people."

He adds: "Simply reporting on suicides can lead other people, who are already feeling suicidal, to take their own lives. How you choose to report it can potentially save lives. Suicide is complex, so it is generally misleading to suggest a simplistic cause and effect explanation - and including details of helplines like the Samaritans could save someone's life."

A new report, Sensitive Coverage Saves Lives, published by the MediaWise Trust, concludes that while progress has been made health club, many journalists and editors remain unaware of either general or in-house reporting guidelines. Next month the government's anti-stigma mental health body, Shift, will publish its own guidance on the reporting of suicide, a handbook that will be distributed to editors.