Dunne to convene meeting of media, experts on suicide reporting

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne will chair a roundtable meeting of media, mental health professionals and researchers early in the new year to update guidelines on media reporting of suicides.

The roundtable meeting will be a significant step towards updating the health Ministry’s Suicide and the Media resource, and Mr Dunne said it is hoped to also involve the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, and the Chief Coroner, Judge Neil MacLean.

“It is essential for media to be full participants in updating the guidelines to ensure they are workable and achieve the aim of responsible reporting on the issues around suicide,” Mr Dunne said.

“The meeting will be an important initial step to get the review underway.”

Prime Minister John Key had earlier directed the Ministerial Committee on Suicide Prevention to consider whether the current controls around suicide reporting in the media were appropriate following comments by the Chief Coroner and renewed media interest in the issue.

The Committee reported to the Prime Minister that the media guidelines had not been reviewed since they were published in 1999 and that there would be benefit in undertaking a review.

In particular, the development of online media and social networking sites “had changed the landscape around how suicide is handled and covered”, Mr Dunne said.

The Ministerial Committee on Suicide Prevention report to the Prime Minister is at http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/suicideprevention-committee#mcspreport