After Caroline Flack’s death, sensationalising suicide should be the last thing the media does
The media’s response to Caroline Flack’s death has shown that some newspapers are still putting chasing clicks ahead of saving lives.
The internet has been awash with arguments about how tabloid coverage of the Love Island presenter, and the assault charge she was facing over an incident with her boyfriend, may have affected her while she was alive.
But after her death, we have seen news stories dealt with in a way that, according to charities, can contribute to others attempting to die by suicide. Newspapers and websites, in a desperate race to be the first to grab eyeballs, are failing to follow well-known advice designed to stop a tragic event triggering others.
On Wednesday morning, Mail Online put out a push notification, delivered direct to the home screens of the millions of users of its app, that read: “Caroline Flack HANGED herself, London inquest hears”.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph ran on its homepage the headline: “Caroline Flack inquest: Love Island presenter hanged herself at home, coroner says”.
And on The Sun’s homepage, the headline for the same story reads: “Caroline Flack, 40, died after being found hanged at her London home, inquest hears”.
In each case, the articles under the headlines followed best practice, avoiding giving further specifics about the method by which Flack died
But any care taken in how the story was reported is erased by careless efforts to promote it. Many, many more people will see the headline or notification than will ever read the entire piece.
As the Samaritans guidelines specifically say on reporting suicide: “Avoid any mention of the method in headlines as this inadvertently promotes and perpetuates common methods of suicide.”
It’s important to stress that this is not simply about concern for the memories of the dead or the feelings of their loved ones.
Guidelines from Ipso, the news regulator (which not all UK publications are members of), state that there is: “A wide body of research evidence [which] shows that media portrayals of suicide, including information published by newspapers and magazines, can influence suicidal behaviour and lead to imitative acts, particularly among vulnerable groups or young people.”
One study found that following the death by suicide of comedian Robin Williams in 2014, there was a 10 per cent increase in the number of suicides in the US. Another study in Taiwan found that when specific methods of suicide are reported, there is a spike in people attempting to kill themselves in the same way.
The evidence suggests that, of all the harm that bad journalism might cause, getting it wrong on suicide can contribute to people trying to die by suicide.
Reporting suicide is incredibly difficult even if a journalist is up to speed with everything the experts say should and shouldn’t be done. And reporting anything under the pressure that most journalists face is always going to be difficult on such a high-profile, breaking story.
There are also other aspects of the guidelines that are less clear cut. For instance, journalists should be wary of “over-emphasising” outpourings of grief, something especially difficult with a public figure like Flack. No news organisation gets it perfectly right all the time.
And no one is saying that a suicide shouldn’t be reported as such. Journalists have a duty to inform the public.
Yet only a couple of decades ago, newspapers would publish lurid details about exactly how someone had died by suicide, effectively providing a blueprint for others to follow, as well as conjecture about their state of mind and motivations. Pretty much everyone has improved since, and it’s possible to see a much greater degree of care in the articles published by both Mail Online, the Telegraph and The Sun.
But on this, the media can and must do better. It is up to editors and anyone covering something with potentially fatal repercussions to make sure that the pressure to be first, to be the most read, to – let’s be frank – make money, doesn’t come first.
Avoiding something as simple as putting a suicide method in a headline which many vulnerable people will see is a very basic step.
Those writing about suicide have one primary duty above all others, think about “the impact of the coverage on your audience”. It’s a rule that the media should follow in everything it does, but never more so than when someone has died by suicide.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. For services local to you, the national mental health database – Hub of Hope – allows you to enter your postcode to search for organisations and charities who offer mental health advice and support in your area
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