Attempted Suicide Sparks Editor Debate
Contrary to what readers sometimes allege, The Beaumont Enterprise newsroom is not a callous machine with no sensitivity in regard to stories and their play, meaning whether it'll go Page 1A or find itself buried in a shallow back-page grave.
Fairness runs neck and neck with accuracy in the Enterprise newsroom mission.
Earlier this week, Enterprise editors waged a healthy debate over a story that fell into a gray area: suicide.
An Ozen High School senior attempted to kill himself in a bathroom. Another student discovered him and notified school officials. Conscious and breathing, the boy was taken to the hospital.
Was this news?
Some editors argued that it was, while others called its publication a dangerous, slippery-slope precedent. Were we giving this student a platform to call attention to himself? Would this set off a chain reaction of suicide attempts? No one died, so does that change anything? Would parents be interested in this story, serving as a catalyst for communicating with their own troubled children? Did the public have a right to know?
Suicides are hot potatoes in most newsrooms, and, unfortunately, I have run across the issue many times.
Years ago, while I was an education reporter, two popular high schoolers made a suicide pact and killed themselves with carbon monoxide fumes in a garage. The ripple effect among their fellow students and the community certainly was news. The school was devastated.
So effect plays a role on the news end. Also, if it's a public figure, such former U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford, who died in 2003, that's clearly news.
Suicides involving private citizens fall into a gray area. If the person wasn't a public figure, and the death didn't reverberate throughout a community, then chances are that a newspaper will not run it. An exception, though, is if a body is found and police provide no initial cause of death. We'll report on the discovery, and then, when the information is made available, we'll report on how the person died, even if it's suicide.
The attempted suicide at a high school was a curve ball. I've never run across a story like than in my 20 years in this business.
Ultimately, we ran a Page 13A brief that left out the more gruesome details found in the Beaumont Police Department news release.
Whether I argued for or against the brief's publication is moot. What is important is that readers understand that these decisions aren't taken lightly, and every weekday afternoon, in a back conference room, we often debate the merits of even the smallest of news items.
Fairness runs neck and neck with accuracy in the Enterprise newsroom mission.
Earlier this week, Enterprise editors waged a healthy debate over a story that fell into a gray area: suicide.
An Ozen High School senior attempted to kill himself in a bathroom. Another student discovered him and notified school officials. Conscious and breathing, the boy was taken to the hospital.
Was this news?
Some editors argued that it was, while others called its publication a dangerous, slippery-slope precedent. Were we giving this student a platform to call attention to himself? Would this set off a chain reaction of suicide attempts? No one died, so does that change anything? Would parents be interested in this story, serving as a catalyst for communicating with their own troubled children? Did the public have a right to know?
Suicides are hot potatoes in most newsrooms, and, unfortunately, I have run across the issue many times.
Years ago, while I was an education reporter, two popular high schoolers made a suicide pact and killed themselves with carbon monoxide fumes in a garage. The ripple effect among their fellow students and the community certainly was news. The school was devastated.
So effect plays a role on the news end. Also, if it's a public figure, such former U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford, who died in 2003, that's clearly news.
Suicides involving private citizens fall into a gray area. If the person wasn't a public figure, and the death didn't reverberate throughout a community, then chances are that a newspaper will not run it. An exception, though, is if a body is found and police provide no initial cause of death. We'll report on the discovery, and then, when the information is made available, we'll report on how the person died, even if it's suicide.
The attempted suicide at a high school was a curve ball. I've never run across a story like than in my 20 years in this business.
Ultimately, we ran a Page 13A brief that left out the more gruesome details found in the Beaumont Police Department news release.
Whether I argued for or against the brief's publication is moot. What is important is that readers understand that these decisions aren't taken lightly, and every weekday afternoon, in a back conference room, we often debate the merits of even the smallest of news items.
posted by Brian Pearson at 1:53 PM
1 Comments:
as they shouldnt be taken lightly.. I do feel though that more people need to be aware of what is going on in the younger generations. Not enough time is spent on it.. We keep hearing about hit lists and suicide and guns, and knives.. YET no one is looking at WHY this keeps happening..I could go on and on about why i think it keeps happening.. I think it boils down to parents involvment or lack there of....
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