Reporting Bridgend
- 20 Feb 08, 02:35 PM
Yesterday we found ourselves reporting a story where the very issue of media coverage became part of the news.
The body of a 16-year-old girl was found in the Bridgend area of South Wales. She had apparently taken her own life, bringing to 21 the number of young apparent suicides in Bridgend county since September 2006.
That same day the at which the mother of a 15-year-old boy who died last week said she believed he was influenced by media coverage which glamorised previous deaths.
Assistant chief constable David Morris then gave details of a review of the 17 apparent suicides up to January of this year.
He emphasised that, contrary to some media reports, there is no evidence of a suicide pact, internet influence or criminal encouragement. He said a 鈥渃onstellation of factors鈥 including very personal ones were involved in each case.
The coroner for the area has already said he is convinced there is 鈥榥ot one great conspiracy' linking the deaths, though there is evidence in some cases that victims knew others.
But assistant chief constable Morris also talked about media coverage. He held up examples from newspapers and deplored sensationalist reporting.
Throughout the developing events in Bridgend we have thought hard about how to make sure our coverage is not sensational. The 蜜芽传媒 has editorial guidelines which include specific guidance on covering suicide.
We have circulated documents and articles to our journalists to help them keep across the wider debate about media coverage of suicide. For example .
This thinking fed into our editorial discussions and our decisions through the day.
News of the discovery of another body emerged in the morning. We decided to report the story, but not put a Breaking News strapline with it on News 24 or our website, in order to avoid any suggestion of excitement about the story. In the afternoon however, when we covered the police news conference as a live event, we did.
We are lucky to have correspondents, for example Wyre Davies and Colette Hume, who have been reporting developments in Bridgend throughout and bring real expertise and sensitivity to our coverage.
We try to provide context to this story, for example about the real statistical picture or how among young people.
On air and on the website we accompanied our reports with links and contact details to the Samaritans, and . We carried interviews with representatives of Samaritans, , , experts in child protection, the authorities in Wales and so on.
We talked about how to use pictures of those who have died. And decided that they are a part of the story-telling but that they should be used with restraint. We tried to avoid any visual treatment which might in any way glamorise anyone.
Another issue which experts point to is the question of paying tribute to those who have died, and how again this can seem appealing to other vulnerable young people searching for attention.
We decided we would not mention or link to any of the tribute sites which have appeared to some of those who have died. And on our website, when we decided to add a link to a clip of one of Jenna Parry's friends talking about his sadness, we changed our caption from 鈥楢 friend鈥檚 tribute鈥 to 鈥樷.
I would not make any great claims for these decisions. Except to say they are a reflection of our awareness of our responsibilities.
This is a complex area, any possible media role being only part of a jigsaw, another being the role of the authorities (and yesterday the Welsh Assembly Government announced a ).
What we try to do is balance our role in reporting what happens in Britain with our sensitivity to those members of our audience 鈥 whether young people, parents or concerned professionals 鈥 who may be affected, combined of course with our awareness of the tragedy of each and every one of these deaths.
Mary Hockaday is deputy head of 蜜芽传媒 Newsroom
