By Emma Jolliff
The Chief Coroner is calling for an overhaul of the rules surrounding the reporting of suicide.
Journalists are bound by strict guidelines designed to minimise copycat behaviour, but Judge Neil Mclean says more responsible reporting could have the opposite effect and save lives.
Heather Powell describes her son Michael’s suicide as a “bolt out of the blue”.
He was just 15 when he took his own life in 2009, after a late night text conversation about suicide.
“They’re dead, it’s horribly simple, there is no coming back,” Ms Powell says.
“It’s desperately, desperately sad. It’s not heroic. It’s final.”
Is it time for suicide reporting to lose its stigma?
Judge Mclean says New Zealanders need to know the truth about how many people are taking their own lives.
“Generally the responsible media will say, ‘Well hang on, wouldn’t it be better to tell people what is actually happening and might that then not prevent more suicides?’.”
For each of the last three years there have been around 540 deaths described by coroners as “self-inflicted”.
That is 50 percent more than last year’s road toll.
The Coroner’s Act currently restricts the way suicides can be reported.
“The new Act now says the Coroner shall not authorise publication of particular details unless satisfied it will do now harm,” says Judge Mclean.
“It’s really hard to grieve because it’s not really acknowledged,” says Ms Powell.
It is important it isn’t sensationalised, she says. People are warned about the consequences of drink driving but not suicide, because it is not discussed.
Nandor Tanczos tackles the issue of suicide reporting in his latest blog
Media Commentator Jim Tully says the scale of the problem should be reported, but not individual cases – unless they have particular news value.
“It might be the prominence of the individual, it might be that the event took place in a public setting,” he says.
“It might be part of a so-called spate, it might be raising important social issues.”
Judge Mclean says a change to legislation is needed and he will debate the issue further at a freedom and media meeting next month.
3 News