Careless
JEERS TO the Manila Bulletin and ABS-CBN 2’s TV Patrol for yet another careless suicide report.
The Manila Bulletin September 5 issue published on its front page a series of five photos of a suicide attempt on a flyover in EDSA-Timog (Kamuning) Quezon City. The Bulletin reported in the photo caption  that “…personnel of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority raced to catch the distressed Payatas resident with a rescue cushion but failed to catch him.” The photo caption also noted that the man survived the incident with “only a broken hand and some bruises.”
TV Patrol aired on September 3 video footage of the incident. The anchor reported how the incident happened while the actual video was running.
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) suicide prevention guidelines for media professionals:
“Photographs or video footage of the scene of a given suicide should not be used, particularly if doing so makes the location or method clear to the reader or viewer…”
and,
“Details of the method or the location a suicide victim uses may lead to copycat suicides…A reporter should not risk providing another person considering suicide with the details of how it can be achieved.”
The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility has stressed in its previous reports that the coverage of suicide incidents requires the greatest care.
Another TV Patrol report on September 3 was on an Australian national’s suicide in Pasay City. The report aired parts of the suicide’s notes in which he explained why he had decided to kill himself, a detail that could influence others in the same situation to take their own lives.
So informative. Kudos, CMFR! 🙂
Thank you! Have you seen similar reports worthy of Cheers or Jeers? Please share them with us.