Ahomeless Hong Kong man attempts suicide because of toothache. So said recent newspaper reports. In fact, chronic pain is rarely the sole spur to suicide. The ultimate motives lie in feelings of defeat, separation, loss and hopelessness.
But the event raises an important issue: how newspapers handle the sensitive topic of suicide. Some are so unreflecting that they should carry a warning, like cigarette packets: this newspaper can be dangerous for your health. Why? Because, at best, bad suicide reporting can do indirect, long-term damage by warping a community's idea of what suicide means, why it happens and how often. This is in addition to the direct and fatal effect bad reporting can have on the thinking, emotions and actions of vulnerable individuals.
Hong Kong newspapers are particularly guilty, according to a recent Hong Kong University study. Their reporting style is out of line with the Hong Kong Journalist Association's recommendations and with international best practices, which boil down to rules such as no suicide reports on the front page, no photographs and certainly no detailed diagrams of how and where the death happened.
A good example of the link between newspaper stories and people's behaviour is the increase in Hong Kong of suicide by charcoal burning. Jade Au, at Hong Kong University's Suicide Research and Prevention Centre, confirmed the connection when she compared profiles of victims, as reported in five of Hong Kong's Chinese language papers (which together account for 80 per cent of the city's newspaper circulation), with official statistics based on data from the Coroner's Court.
The first case of death through burning charcoal appeared on the front pages of Hong Kong newspapers, with numerous photographs and graphics, in 1998. By 2002, this method had displaced hanging as the second most common method of suicide, after jumping from a height. Suicides peaked (at 16.3 per 100,000) and middle-age suicides increased. Both changes, according to an article in the Hong Kong Medical Journal, were mainly a function of the increase in the number of charcoal-burning deaths.
Suicide methods change over the years and vary according to cultures. But, invariably, the easier the method, the more likely a person at a low ebb will be tempted by it. Detailed, pictorial accounts are veritable 'how-to' guides for those at risk.
