Hello, I am Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu, Director of
Health for Fairfax County. Thank you for taking the Five
for Five Challenge. The Health Department and our community
partners need your help to stop suicide in our community.
If five journalists in your newsroom spend 5 minutes
watching this video we can save lives. The way newsrooms
report on suicide matters. Joining us to explain why is
an expert from your field. Kevin Benz is a 30 year
veteran of broadcast, cable and online news. He has led
some of the most innovative newsrooms in the country and
he now coaches journalists around the world as a faculty
member with the Carole Kneeland Project for
Responsible Journalism. I am Kevin Benz with the Carole
Kneeland Project, when I walk into a newsroom, I ask what
are the most difficult stories, you cover? Nearly
always, suicide will come up and there is a good reason for
that because suicide contagion is real. If we are not careful
about the words and the photographs that we choose,
people who may be considering suicide could actually carry
it out based on the news story that we do. That is a
frightening prospect, our principle of minimizing harm
is important here. It is important to consider, it is
also important to consider that suicide is one of the
least covered health issues in our communities. Take a look
at these statistics, CDC research shows that just
recently, suicide overcame homicide as the number one
cause of non accidental death in teenagers in the United
States. And there has been an alarming 56 percent increase
in teen girl suicide since 1999. Journalists should think
of suicide as a health issue rather than as a crime or a
breaking news issue. In fact, depression and mental illness
are most often involved in suicide and those are
illnesses that can be treated. Most important, we need to
remember that suicide is not simple, it is a very complex
mix of mental illness and depression, perhaps drug
abuse, in fact, very rarely is there a single catalyst and
think about how simplistic we make suicide when we say that
concern about exams is the reason that she took her own
life. We really want to avoid making suicide a reasonable
response for people who are having problems. In this story
we learn that a couple in their fifties jumped nine
stories off a building to their deaths. And we also
learned that they were struggling to pay their bills.
This story to someone who is in financial crisis could make
it sound as though suicide is a solution to that problem. We
also learned that they left a suicide note before jumping,
suicide prevention experts would tell us that we want to
avoid talking about what is in a suicide note. Instead, we
might say a note was found at the scene and is being
reviewed by the medical examiner. Photos can be
particularly problematic, these are a series of photos
from Kurt Cobain's death scene where he committed suicide.
Obviously, we want to avoid showing photos at the suicide
scene, we certainly also want to avoid showing the bodies at
that suicide scene. Here is more coverage of that suicide
that occurred in Manhattan. Obviously, in this case the
video shows the bodies and it also shows how high the
building was, we want to avoid showing bodies at the scene,
we also want to avoid showing how the suicide was committed
people in crisis look at that as an option for them. Instead, let
us show photos of a happier time, we go back to the story
of the girl who apparently killed herself because of her
exams, Social Media presents particular problems, we have
no control over the responses and reactions. What you are
seeing here is the streaming emoji that went across live
coverage on Facebook of a man threatening to jump off a
bridge, that man by the way was saved. Further, we have
little control over the comments that we get.
Dispassionate comments like sad story but come on if you
are going to kill yourself, you would have jumped off the
bridge, no way in hell you would let someone grab you.
Those kinds of comments do not help in the coverage and they
certainly do not minimize the harm that we might do for
people who are considering suicide an an option.
Celebrity suicides also present their own share of
problems. And these are big reasons why we cover suicide
quite often when a public figure or celebrity decides to
take their own life. In this case, we remember when Robin
Williams took his life, look at the two headlines here,
Robin Williams Autopsy Confirms Death by Suicide.
Very straight forward, very simple, no sensationalism, and
a very appropriate picture of Robin, Robin Williams. The
second, Robin Williams Dead, Actor Found Hanging in His
Bedroom by His Personal Assistant, Police say. Again,
in this case, we might want to avoid talking about the method
of Robin William's suicide, instead play it straight. Here
are some guidelines that we have already gone over, first
let us inform without sensationalizing, consider not
making suicide the lead story, use words like death by
suicide or killed him or herself rather than successful
suicides or failed suicide. Use photos taken at a happier
time, and avoid locations and body shots, reporting on
suicide is important as a health issue, but do not
report on it as a crime or breaking news issue. Remember,
suicide is never simple, we cannot make assumptions about
why a person chose to take their own life, in fact, it is
a very complex situation that they may be in involving
depression, involving mental illness, and remember, mental
illness can be treated. So, avoid describing the act as a
result of one single event like poor grades or breaking
up with a partner or financial problems. If a note is found,
go ahead and say so, but let us avoid quoting it. And
always include the warning signs friends and family
should look for, and what friends and family should do
if they see those warning signs. Suicide is an important
health issue in your community and it deserves coverage,
beyond just the death of a celebrity or the death of a
public figure, this is one story in which you can educate
your community and literally save lives. If your newsroom
needs additional guidance on responsible reporting of
suicide, please visit this great online resource,
www.reportingonsuicide.org. To find out more about efforts to
prevent suicide in Northern Virginia, please visit
www.suicidepreventionnva.org When you do report on suicide,
please include these resources to help be part of the
solution. PRS CrisisLink operates a 24 hour regional
crisis and suicide prevention hotline at 703-527-4077.
People in need of help can also text CONNECT to 85511. 24
7 crisis support is also available through the National
Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). By
letting the public know about these resources, you are
helping to save lives. Now help us out. Tell five
journalists in your newsroom to take the Five for Five
Challenge. Thank you.