The stretch of track I live near is the most notorious in the UK for suicides. And they do it during the rush hour which closes the main line from London for two hours! The news rarely even makes it on the local paper.
However, a woman in Pennsylvania went deep into the woods and died using helium (only directly harming herself) and it made international headlines.
Whats the deal with the media and reporting suicides?
9 comments
I don’t know for sure and I could be wrong but……Its probably all about what they think will attract more viewers….The story in PA was probably unique for that area and other news outlets picked it up….You said that the line is notorious for suicides so people have probably become numb and bored with the story. Media knows that if a story doesn’t attract viewers then its not worth reporting.
Hmm…
Let’s consider the tendency of humans to “get ideas from” certain stories.
Posting a story that says: “Lots of people flinging themselves under trains, causing line delays for transit users!”
Will almost inevitably lead to more people flinging themselves under said trains, and more line delays.
Posting a story that says: “Person sneaks off into wilderness to suicide, alone, away from anyone!”
Then people will go suicide away from everyone, and cause minimal disruption to “the machine.”
@clevername mmhmm that is a better explanation!
@clevername you may be onto something. Offing oneself by helium is actually quite rare, but gets a disproportionate amount of press. Like the message is : if you must, this is the way we would prefer you to go about it.
Oh God no. The last thing I want when I go is to have to wait in traffic in the middle of the forest to die
lol
I’m surprised they even reported the suicide at all usually it has to be somewhere public or somebody famous to get on the news. I would not want to be plastered all over the news after I go…. it just seems like its disrespecting the memory of the deceased IMO….. I mean its okay to acknowledge the death but making a spectacle out of it is unnecessary
@PainNlife That’s why I was curious. A publicity free departure is one of my tick boxes. I’m not famous and it won’t be in public. And yes it was very disrespectful to publicize it on such a scale.
@Acheron…. I hope mine isn’t…..I mean I do plan on doing it in the woods to protect my family from seeing the body but now I may have to rehash my plan a bit……..although after I’m dead it’s not like I will know if it’s even on the news or not….I guess it doesn’t really matter either way I just would prefer not to be