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Scenes from the O'Driscoll brothers' funeral mass in Charleville earlier this month. Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland

Experts disappointed at 'sensationalised' coverage of Charleville murder-suicide

Journalists should be more responsible with their words and story framing, according to research.

THE MEDIA COVERAGE of the recent murder-suicide in Charleville came under criticism at a recent seminar on suicide prevention in Cork.

Professor Ella Arensman, Director of Research at the National Suicide Research Foundation, said she was disappointed at the “sensationalised” coverage of the event which claimed the lives of the O’Driscoll brothers.

She also noted that some stories published on the incident have given the impression that “there is nothing we can do about events like that”, a sentiment which she wholeheartedly disagrees with.

She was speaking at a free seminar at Cork County Hall, co-hosted by the NSRF and Cork Samaritans, on “Responding to Suicidal Crisis: Research Policy and Practice”, which marked National Suicide Prevention Week.

Prof. Arensman has undertaken much research on copycat suicide, giving examples of the potential effects of inappropriate media coverage.

I received an email from a man who had years ago gone through a suicidal crisis, had recovered and was was doing quite well, until he saw the detailed media coverage of Robin Williams’ death and he told me that everything had come back again.

She urged journalists to follow the media guidelines for reporting suicide released by Samaritans, in association with the Irish Association of Suicidology, earlier this year. Some of the key recommendations are:

• Leave out technical details about the method of suicide, such as describing the type of ligature or the number and type of pills used in an overdose.

• Avoid over-simplification such as referring to the “triggers” behind a suicide.

• Aim for non-sensationalising, sensitive coverage.

• Media professionals should consider the vulnerable reader who may be in crisis when they read the story – coverage should not be glorified or romanticised, it should emphasise the consequences of the event for others.

Kathleen Lynch, Minister of State with responsibility for Mental Health, said “we need to be careful about our language when it comes to suicide” suggesting that even the term “mental health” is stigmatised.

Executive director of Samaritans Ireland, Catherine Brogan, echoed their sentiments, asking media professionals to avoid using the phrase “committed suicide” as it has connotations relating to the fact that suicide was a criminal offence in Ireland up to 1993.

In 2010, Jane Pirkis and colleagues carried out a review of 97 studies on suicide and the media and concluded:

Irresponsible presentations of suicide in news and information media can influence copycat acts.

However, the report also stressed:

“The findings of the current review should not be interpreted as a call for the censorship of the media; it is acknowledged that the media has a role to play in raising awareness of suicide as a public health issue.

“Rather the findings should be interpreted as an indication that media presentation of the suicide should be done responsibly and balanced against the public’s ‘right to know’ in order to reduce potential harm confirmed by the evidence.”

Helplines 

  • Samaritans: 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org
  • Console: 1800 247 247 (Suicide prevention, self-harm, bereavement)
  • Aware: 1890 303 302 (Depression, anxiety)
  • Pieta House: 01 601 0000 or email mary@pieta.ie (Suicide, self-harm, bereavement)
  • Teen-Line Ireland: 1800 833 634 (for ages 13 to 19)

Charleville: ‘We must work to communicate the darkness that increasingly troubles young minds’

More: ‘I have forgiven him’ – Cork woman opens up about crash that killed her young family

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22 Comments
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    Mute Rob
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:38 AM

    All this does means is that in 30yrs we have to go through all this again. It’s time the air was cleared, no more secrets.

    153
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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    The Catholic Church is one of the most despicable institutions that has ever been imposed on us. Shame on whoever facilitated they’re reign of terror

    207
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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:18 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: their *

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    Mute Tony Harris
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:45 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: “we” facilitated it. They weren’t the Stasi, they weren’t the Gestapo, we flocked to them in our millions.

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    Mute Côte D’oherty
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:07 AM

    @Tony Harris: agreed

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    Mute Trevor Donoghue
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    Nov 5th 2020, 4:37 AM

    @Tony Harris: Back then they were not the stasi or the gestapo, they were worse , The people feared the Stasi and gestapo because they were all afraid of them, they knew exactly what monsters they were and they would take your lives. The Church did worse because they were doing unspeakable evil disguised as God’s good work and people were good catholics, and we did not facilitate it, we were trying to save our very souls, not simply our lives. And you did not ever go against the church back then if you even wanted a life, or a job, or even to be part of the community you lived it. And the Church still need a long, long way to go to pay for the evil they have done.

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    Mute Tony Doran
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    Nov 5th 2020, 7:45 AM

    @Trevor Donoghue: Well said. People need to wake up and realise how oppressive it was for the Irish people living under those conditions, fearing the church and having to get in line, be good little Catholics or else!

    56
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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 8:02 AM

    @Tony Harris: From the; Cradle to the Grave, the Roman Church Brain washed people.

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 8:05 AM

    @Tony Harris: When I look back, and Remember Grown Men, Elected Representatives of Dáil Éireann, bending down on their; Knee Kissing the Hand Of the Bishops.

    44
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    Mute Justin Gillespie
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:13 AM

    @ÓDuibhír Abú: This is what happens when anyone gets unchecked power over someone else. What happened in church & state run institution’s was criminal & shameful & it need to be exposed but don’t think for one minute that abuse nó longer takes place.
    What goes on behind closed doors is equally horrific, the numbers of calls to Childline support this, & we need to beef up ways of allowing victims to reach out for help.

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    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:09 PM

    @Justin Gillespie: Difference is; an Organization claiming to be representatives of God on earth. Claiming to be protectors of the; Faith, but have destroyed it by their; Ungodly actions.

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    Mute paul mccoy
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:55 AM

    Typical of this government. Bury it and it’s like it never happened so we don’t have to answer any nasty questions from the public.

    117
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    Mute Bull McCabe
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    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    Is there anything to be said to have another tribunal? That way it can be fully investigated and nobody will be prosecuted!

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    Mute Mary Nugent
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    Nov 5th 2020, 7:42 AM

    Shame of a Nation the land of sorrows.

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:01 AM

    So Fine Gael have given the ok for comments

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    Mute Rathminder
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:19 AM

    I have no connection to the homes but think the idea of a records centre on the site of the Magdalene Laundry is fitting. It could include a library of the books and documents written documenting the history which saw the Irish government’s pattern of discarding any responsibility for the unfortunate. It is fitting for the site, much as the work houses turned into museums. The survivors must have a say in this, however.

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    Mute Celtic Spirit
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:18 AM

    Bye bye Catholic church. And not before time. An absolute dispicable, vile cult that were given control over our country after independence. From the British Empire to the Holy Roman Empire of the Vatican.

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    Mute Brendan Greene
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    Nov 5th 2020, 10:01 AM

    @Celtic Spirit: it is very naive to imagine that these abuses are in some way related to Catholicism specifically rather than human nature. We now know that similar things occurred all over the world in settings that were entirely secular. All societies like scapegoats to avoid acknowledging our complicity in what happened.

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    Mute Celtic Spirit
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    Nov 5th 2020, 1:04 PM

    @Brendan Greene: I wouldn’t agree with what you’ve said. The Catholic church as an institution were given free reign to do as they pleased without any retribution for their actions. They rules this country with an iron fist. People were conditioned plain and simple. The Irish people were too afraid to question the church in case they went to hell. That is the mark of a cult. Some of the victims then went on to abuse others making their victims secondary or proxy victims of the church.

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    Mute Rob Duggan
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    Nov 5th 2020, 9:16 AM

    People and the state failed we still do. We used to blame the brits, now we project blame to the church. Families shunned their daughters. Aethiest regimes are as brutal as those led by a theocracy(ccp/ussr etc) . We need to look at the ugly truth of our own human behavior and rule of law.

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