Ethicists Question Va. Paper's Stance on Suicide

By: Greg Mitchell The death of a military reporter at The Virginian-Pilot last Saturday, and the newspaper's decision to not reveal that the cause was suicide, raises anew the debate over how the media should handle such difficult cases. Three experts on ethical issues at the Poynter Institute and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) question the newspaper's decision to withhold information from the public, based on what they know about this case.

Complicating this tragic episode, but adding to the need for full disclosure, they say, is the fact that the reporter's body was discovered by a colleague at the paper, in a public park in Norfolk, at midday.

"Many newspapers have a policy against revealing 'ordinary' suicides," said Fred Brown, co-chair of the SPJ Ethics Committee. "I would not call this an ordinary suicide."

Gary Hill, the SPJ Ethics Committee chair, said that withholding information "opens the paper to charges it showed favoritism to its own."

Robert Steele, Scholar for Journalism Values at Poynter, added: "Our primary obligation in journalism is to reveal important information. We should only withhold when there is another overriding issue or value. Although I was not in that newsroom, I don't see it in this case."

On Sunday, the Virginian-Pilot (Click for QuikCap), in a news story, reported that military reporter Dennis O'Brien, 35, who had a high profile at the paper and in the community last year as an embedded journalist in Iraq, had passed away on Saturday, but did not specify the cause.

E&P revealed yesterday that he had taken his life, but did not disclose full details. It quoted editors and others who differed on how much O'Brien's experience in Iraq may have contributed to his downward spiral.

As of this morning, the paper still had not confirmed his cause of death. It previously explained that it was withholding information at the request of O'Brien's family. He left behind a wife and two-year-old daughter.

The journalists from SPJ and Poynter, however, argued that while the family's wishes are an important "input," they should not be the sole criteria. Journalistic obligation, credibility and independence must also be weighed heavily.

One key factor, they agreed, is that local journalists are quasi-public figures, because of the nature of their work (they often cover public issues and officials) and where they work (their paper is usually a leading local institution). O'Brien, due to his well-publicized war coverage, certainly filled the bill.

The fact that another reporter discovered his body, after O'Brien reportedly arranged to meet him at the park, involved the newspaper even deeper in the tragedy. And the park setting for the suicide raised additional issues of the public's right to know.

"Coverage of suicide has been a weak spot in the underbelly of journalism for a long time," said Steele, in speaking at length, and with some passion, about this subject. "In many newsrooms, there are rules, written or cultural, that inhibit and sometimes prohibit sound ethical decisions and good news judgment on this matter. We are often bound to myths. Because of that, I believe we have terribly undercovered or miscovered the incidence of suicide in our society."

Journalists face three "ethical pressure points," he said, with any suicide: responsibility to the family; deterring copycats; and avoiding sensationalism. The Norfolk case, however, was complicated by the newspaper's direct connection, "so fairness and consistency are added as issues," he said. "Do we apply different standards when it's one of our own? We know that the public is critical whenever we show any favoritism. If anything, we should hold ourselves to as high, or higher standards."

Finally, the fact that the death took place in a park (rather than, say, at home) not only raises other public issues, it may mean there will be some sort of official probe, and the job of a newspaper is to follow investigations openly and completely.

The lesson for other papers, according to Steele, is that the "absence of specificity" in a death notice will inevitably raise significant questions. This fosters public perception that the paper is "hiding something." Even if the paper's motives are pure, and aimed at protecting the family, the public may question whether it has shown the same respect for the families of other crime or suicide victims.

"I don't suggest we report every suicide," Steele said, "but I would say we should disclose them unless there are extraordinary circumstances -- reveal more rather than less, and sooner rather than later."

Also see Poynter's "Reporting on Suicide".