A Tip Sheet on Covering Suicide from Al Tompkins

Principles:

• Seek truth and report it as fully as possible

• Act independently

• Minimize harm: cause only the harm necessary

• Be accountable and accessible

Need to ask:

• Why is this news?

• How will we explain the story to stakeholders, including the police, hostages and ourselves?

• How will we explain the story to the public?

• Do we need to name the victim or family? Not always.

• Could we suspend normal production guidelines, such as music?

• What advice can we offer?

Tips:

• No need for adjectives like “tragic”; play it straight, we know it’s tragic.

• Tone matters

• The more detail you give, the higher the chance for copycat suicide

• Limit details & don’t speculate

• Teach: focus on the larger issue rather than individual death.

• Usually there is a warning sign(s)

• Be careful with file tape

• We need context. This is a good time to use an expert. 

• Summarize without the hype.

• Seek trends rather than individual acts

Biggest mistakes:

• Giving detailed information about how the person took his/her life because people will fixate on that

• Simplifying the problem: there are almost never cases where a single issue leads to the decision to attempt suicide

• Featuring a juvenile’s suicide without serious thought about whether to do so

• Overplaying the reaction of shock and pain