The press and other media involvement

The local press often reports suicides – especially if they happen in a public area. If the person who dies, or their family, is well known reports also appear in the national press. A sympathetic newspaper obituary can comfort the family but often the way that suicides are reported in the media upsets those who are bereaved. Media interest can seem like an invasion of privacy.

Inaccurate reporting can be particularly distressing. The public and media reporters are entitled to attend inquests and report on the verdict. Brief or sensationalist articles often oversimplify the causes of suicide and attribute the act to single factors, such as a financial disaster, or a broken relationship. Mental illness is commonest factor leading to suicide, but the media often overlook it.

After a suicide, friends and relatives of those who have died may feel ‘hounded’ by journalists. Some of the people we talked to had been advised to make a press statement about what had happened so that journalists would then leave them in peace.

The police arranged for a press officer to take a statement about Darrell and the way he died so that Lucy and the family would be left alone to grieve in private.

Margaret did not want to talk to journalists until after her daughter’s inquest. She decided to issue a statement through her solicitor. This was also used as part of an article written by the charity INQUEST. Margaret hoped the article would help to prevent other suicides in prison.

After the inquest Margaret issued a statement via her solicitor. A reporter told her that if she didn’t talk about her daughter’s death the press would invent something.

Some people we talked to said that newspaper and radio reports had shocked them or said that reports had been insensitive and inaccurate.

Stephen’s death was reported in the evening paper. The huge headline “Father’s grief” shocked Susan (Stephen’s mother).

After Chloe died the newspaper reports didn’t bother Linda, but after the inquest some reports were untrue and insensitive. At times reporters were intrusive.

Graham’s death was reported on the radio before Marion had been told about it. His death was also all over the newspapers. Reports were unsympathetic and inaccurate.

Before Ann’s friend died the police put pictures up everywhere to make the public aware that she was missing. The media helped at this stage but after the inquest the newspaper and television reporters wrote sensational accounts of what had happened. Ann said that the reports might have been less distressing if she had talked to journalists, but she did not feel she could cope with it.

The media were heavily involved because Ann’s friend was missing. The police tried to protect Ann from intrusive newspaper reporters and TV crews.

Kate’s ex-husband died by suicide in 2005. After Kate’s daughters died by suicide in 2006 and 2007 a journalist writing for a tabloid newspaper wrote an article, suggesting that there was a “suicide gene” in the family. Kate thought the article was disgraceful. It upset her and alarmed other parents who had lost a partner through suicide. Another reporter, invited to write an article about the girls, wrote a lovely piece.

Kate had mixed experiences–a newspaper carried an irresponsible and inaccurate article, and a freelance journalist hounded her but another reporter was ‘lovely’ and sympathetic.

Detailed, dramatic reports of suicide, particularly if celebrities are involved, may encourage other people to kill themselves in ‘copy-cat’ suicides. Media reports may particularly affect people with a recent history of attempted suicide. Reports may also influence the methods people use. However, sensitive reporting may help to educate the public, reduce stigma and might even change working practices in places such as prisons or hospitals.

A few people said that they thought the newspaper articles (mainly those in broadsheets) had been well written, sympathetic and well balanced. Bob and Lynda, for example, thought the newspaper article about their son Darren was neither intrusive nor hurtful. Others had found newspaper reports inoffensive because they were very short and had not mentioned names.

A local reporter who attended Darren's inquest wrote a compassionate article.

Maurice and Jane had a friend who worked in the local press and he offered to deal with any reporters, which was a great help.

Some people were glad to have the media involved and wrote articles themselves about what had happened. Felicity, for example, wrote a piece about her daughter, Alice, for the Guardian. Jenny wrote an article about her husband for a national broadsheet, and she talked about David on the radio and on television.

Felicity wrote a tribute to Alice, for the Guardian. If people ask about Alice she refers them to the article. Her article also explains how bipolar disease can affect a family.

Jenny agreed to be interviewed for an article about David, partly as a tribute to him, partly to raise awareness of mental illness and because she thought it would be cathartic.

Some people used the press to try to improve things for the local community. Lucreta, for example, was very angry that her daughter had been able to enter the block of flats from which she jumped to her death, and campaigned for the broken windows in the building to be repaired.

Steve also used the media to vent his anger over what had happened to his sister. He contacted the local radio station and was invited to give a live interview on air.

Steve felt angry that the Mental Health Team had discharged his sister from hospital without follow up care, so he talked about it on radio. The Mental Health Team did not respond.

Last reviewed October 2010.

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